


The Galactic Rent Debtors

by Antinael



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe, Far Future, Gen, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-09-17
Packaged: 2018-04-05 06:44:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 35,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4169937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antinael/pseuds/Antinael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Galactic Rent Debtors is a Hetalia fan fiction, placed in an alternate universe. The story takes place in our galaxy, but about 1000 years in the future, when humanity will have spread throughout the planets of the Milky Way. The general setting is science fiction, inspired by the SF novels i have read over time, mostly Asimov's Foundation Series and Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Glalaxy. The story is not sad, it is a science fiction adventure story, although it may contain some sad scenes. I intend this story to be a warning against the new world order, although this will probably be clear in the later chapters. The characters are NOT antropomorphic personifications of countries, but normal humans.<br/>Remix as Romania - IT engineer who repairs spaceships. He is a free time hacker, but does that just for fun<br/>Vanko as Bulgaria - mechanic who repairs spaceships. Remix's mate, works with Remix on the same spaceship<br/>Horia as Moldova - Remix's younger brother. A mentally gifted child<br/>Elsa Herdevex as Hungary - Jr. Police officer<br/>Lud Max aka Darth Ministrator as Germany<br/>Sadix as Turkey<br/>Ivanux as Russia<br/>Ame Richko as America</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> And so it ended...

A thousand years ago.The tragedy. The greed. The oath not to let corporations dictate upon life ever again, not in the present, not in the future.

A thousand years ago, when humanity was still living on planet Earth, as space travel hadn’t been invented yet, there was a time when the governments of nations didn’t belong to nations anymore. But to corporations.

The destruction. No water, no food. Dead animals. Radioactive debris. Cyanide rivers. Fractured earth. No hope for the future… condemned young generations. But then…

Space travel was invented. Hyperspace and the possibility to finally exceed the speed of light. New life sustaining planets. Unbelievable! But so true. Humanity could now finally escape from the cage that mankind itself created. The escape took place in many waves. Until no one was left on the dying Earth anymore.

They made an oath as to never let corporations rule the world again. Or, better said, the worlds. From now on, the governments would only belong to the people.

And so, for a thousand years, humanity lived a prosperous, happy life, spread throughout the Milky Way. In harmony with nature and in peace with one another, free of corporatocracy, they could finally live… and not just struggle for every breath.

But there are always some who break an oath…


	2. The Ministrator!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is how it all begins.  
> Remix and Vanko, as well as Sadix, the trader who made an agreement with Remix for the purchase of an object not subject to legal trade (which made that certain object very expensive), are all in trouble.

One of them was meddling with all sorts of mechanical tools under the main console of a trade space ship belonging to one of the best, and also most unknown merchants of the Galaxy. Why he was the best, his clients knew too well. And why he was unknown, he knew the best. There was nothing one could ever want that Sadix couldn’t find. Of course, the prices were sometimes heavier than a white dwarf to the pockets of those who had to pay.

“This is all your fault”, grumbled the green eyed young man under the main console. “I have better stuff to do than waste my time here…”

The other one was sprawled all over the programming consoles near the main console, which was the one used for piloting the ship. With his messy light hair covering his eyes and his hands moving over the keyboard so fast that they were almost invisible, he gave the impression he was from another dimension. He was the software master. They actually liked to call themselves the Hard and the Soft. They were mates, working on the same space ship, their job being that of repairing dysfunctional space ships. Large headphones were covering his years, so he couldn’t hear what his mate had just said.

The one who had been meddling with tools under the main console suddenly got a grasp on the headphones wire causing his mate not to hear a word, which determined the latter to snap out of the virtual reality right into the real one.

“Whaa…? What’s wrong? What’s happened!?” mumbled the light haired young man.

“Remix, we’ve been working on this ship for hours and I want to kindly ask you when the heck will we be done with this?!”

His mate, named Remix, tried to smile reassuringly .

“Just a few more minutes and we’re done with this, really”, he exaggerated, in the same way he did three hours ago, when he answered the same question.

“You just _had_ to buy that stupid corpse eye, without even knowing if it will work forever and get yourself into longtime debt, just because you can’t do visits on a legal basis…” mumbled the mechanic. “And I was so stupid to get involved in this… Arghh… I have such a bad feeling about this!”

“It is what friends are for!” answered Remix, as if oblivious to his mate’s complaints. “Vanko, I’ll buy you a drink when we’re done, I promise.”

Because Remix had irrationally bought an item, which is somewhat not subject to legal trade, more precisely the eye of a corpse, for purposes which will be soon revealed, he now owed a lot of money to the merchant Sadix. Part of the deal was that Remix would help Sadix with all sorts of problems which occurred once in a while with Sadix’s trade spaceships. And Vanko agreed to help Remix with the maintenance issues, although he sometimes wondered why. This time, they had been working for almost half a day on one of Sadix’s trade ships, which presented considerable mechanical issues.

Their own ship, The Howling Wolf, was hovering in the air near the trade ship. Remix and Vanko came up with the name for their own ship, because it sometimes gave out weird noise, similar to the sounds let out by wolves at midnight. Since they were so busy with their jobs, of repairing others' spaceships, they didn’t have much time to take care of their own.

Suddenly, the trade spaceship was filled with the sound of the alarm, so hard it almost broke one’s drums of the years. Sadix, the owner of the trade ship, came rushing into the main piloting room, where Remix and Vanko where staring at the video screen above the main console.

“What the heck people!”, Sadix yelled, throwing his arms in the air, mad with unpleasant surprise.

“It’s the Ministrator’s people!” said Remix in a rush.

“Yes, thanks to this idiot”, said Vanko, pointing at Remix, which made the latter roll his eyes “and his stupid trade agreement with you, we are basically almost unable to pay the rent! We haven’t payed the rent in four months and the Ministrator’s people are after us everywhere we go!”

“Look Vanko, just calm down, ok? We’ll find a way, like we’ve always had!” Remix tried to reassure Vanko.

“Merge the ships!” howled Sadix, interrupting his workers’ small quarrel. Both of them stared at the merchant, not knowing what he actually had in mind.

“Don’t just stare at me, merge our ships! They don’t have the right to capture your ship if it is linked with the ship of a person who is not involved in your litigation with them! Don’t you two know any galactic legislation?”

“Aye aye captain!” said Remix, and rushed to the software consoles, which could send commands from Sadix’s trade ship to their own ship hovering nearby.

The Howling Wolf started drawing itself towards the trade ship, and, when it was about 5 meters close, it extended a wide tube, which connected to Sadix’s ship. Just as the two ships finally connected, a voice filled the piloting room of the trade ship. The voice came from one of the Ministrator’s ships, apparently the one in charge.

His name was Lud Max, but everybody called him Darth Ministrator. He was the owner of the biggest real estate renting organization, Galactistrate Services. He wasn’t a bad person. But he wasn’t too good with rent debtors either. There was a whole folklore going on behind his back, consisting of tales of unimaginable torture, which the debtors had to endure, in secluded rooms, on far away planets. Of course, none of this was real. But the insistence on following his debtors and keeping track of their every moves, as well as his army of employees and lawyers, were almost just as bad as the tortures described in the stories.

The video screen suddenly lightened and was filled with the face of Darth Ministrator himself. His sober suit and well combed blonde hair, as well as his icy blue eyes and slightly cold attitude of one used to being in control of things contrasted with the general atmosphere from within the piloting room of Sadix’s trade ship. As he started to speak, it felt like the temperature decreased a bit.

“Gentleman. I am here to remind you that the sum of money corresponding to your monthly rent for the apartment A-502-B, galactic sector C, subsector 2, hasn’t been transferred to the Galactistrate Services account for four months.”

Remix and Vanko were both staring speechless at the screen.

“What does this guy want?” asked Sadix.

The Ministrator continued.

“According to the galactic law, the legislation of the real estate renting field and your contract with Galactistrate Services, it is my duty to capture your ship and take you to the headquarters of the Galactic Police, where you will have to pay the fine of 6.000 galactrians, as well as the rent corresponding to the last four months.”

Silence.

“And now, if you please, unlock your ship from the trade ship.” The Ministrator’s face remained expressionless.

“Look…”, said Remix, but then his energy faded.

“Yep, your fucking great idea, Remix…”, said Vanko from the corner of his mouth.

“Look, can’t we talk this out? I’m sure there is a way we can solve this. Right now I don’t have all those galactrians you are asking, but I can pay in various ways, by which I mean, I can provide software services of any kind and…”

“You are not getting me involved in this…”, mumbled Vanko.

“And…even services at edge of the law, if you know what I mean…”

“I’m afraid you have to unlock your ship from the trade ship so we can deliver you to the Galactic Police headquarters, Mr. Remix and Mr. Vanko”, answered the Ministrator, as cold as ice, his expression not changing a millimeter anywhere across his face.

“Hey, these two are my workers”, intervened Sadix, “they owe me quite a lot, too. So, if you’d be so kind as to just leave them alone, until I am finished with them, I’d be very grateful, really!”

“I’m afraid you have to unlock your ship from the trade ship so we can deliver you to the Galactic Police headquarters, Mr. Remix and Mr. Vanko”, repeated the Ministrator.

“Look!” Remix tried, in a failed attempt to postpone the inevitable result. But was interrupted by an other wave of alarm sounds, filling the piloting room, so loud that they could even be heard from the Ministrator’s ship, which caused him to slightly change his facial expression, from expressionless, to slightly disturbed.

“SHIT!”, Sadix started jumping around the room, making both Remix and Vanko, as well as the Ministrator stare at him. “It’s the police, I’m darn screwed!”

Sadix jumped to the main console, pushing Vanko away abruptly. It was clear to all what he wanted to do. He was going to start the engines, even though the trade ship was damaged, since Remix and Vanko hadn’t gotten to finish repairing it, due to the unpleasant visit of the Ministrator.

“Man you can’t do this!”, shouted Vanko, as both Vanko and Remix tried to hold the merchant from touching the main console. Unfortunately for them, Sadix was stronger than both of them.

“Hey, look!”, shouted Remix. “You can get us all killed if you start the engines now!”

“I’m screwed, so very screwed if they catch me!” shouted Sadix hysterically.

“What have you got in the ship’s basement, Sadix?”, asked Remix in an attempt to distract Sadix from the buttons of the console, attempt which was, unfortunately, a failure. “Corpse, or what?”.

“DON’T MOVE! This is the Galactic Police!” a voice filled the room, feeling the urge to mention its identity, as if it wasn’t obvious.

“Let go of me!” shouted Sadix, and managed to break away from Remix and Vanko’s unsuccessful grip.

The merchant’s fingers touched the keyboard of the main console, much to Remix and Vanko’s distress. The spaceship trembled. The lights flickered a bit.

“DON’T MOVE! You are surrounded!”, shouted a voice from one of the ships of the Galactic Police.

Before anyone could further say anything, the merchant ship, with Remix and Vanko’s ship connected to it, started flying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will post the next chapter July.  
> In general, i will try updating once a month. But sometimes i'll update once every two months, since my free time is very scarce.


	3. Bloody Flashback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sadix, Vanko and Remix are surrounded by both the Galactic Police and Darth Ministrator's people. Will they be able to escape? And what happens when life isn't as neat as one thinks?

Sadix’s trade ship, with the much smaller Howling Wolf connected to it through the wide connection tube, was flying through space, with four ships of the Galactic Police following in closely. Sadix was hysterically piloting the trade ship from the main console, eyes wide open and constantly mumbling nonsense and curses, and was managing to stay ahead of the Galactic Police ships. But the trade ship’s engines weren’t doing very well. The unrepaired mechanical dysfunctions caused the trade ship to brutally tremble and snort all the time.

Vanko was monitoring the safety parameters displayed in a section of the video screen, with an extremely concerned look on his face.

“Not good, Sadix… Not good at all…”

All the values of the safety parameters were way above the recommended values. An explosion in one of the engines could happen any time, due to the great effort the engines were making in order to stay ahead of the ships of the Galactic Police.

“Oh damn… Oh damn…”, mumbled Sadix. “I knew I should’ve left the Grass in the warehouse before meeting you two!”

“What Grass…?", asked Vanko concerned. “You don’t have drugs on ship, do you?”

“Cuz if you do, we would need them now!”, Remix interrupted, feverishly programming something complicated on the programming consoles near the main console.

Vanko turned madly to Remix.

“Remix, this is not the time for your stupid jokes, OK?!”, the mechanic yelled. “We are followed by the Police, we don’t know where the fuck the Ministrator’s ships are and we could catch fire anytime! So, can you please, PLEASE, just focus on what you’re doing, so we can get the fuck out of here as soon as possible!” he finished his mature speech.

“Oh, _you_ sure need some of that Grass…” said Remix softly, making Vanko roll his eyes, the hacker’s hands again moving over the keyboard of the programming consoles so fast they were hard to catch a glimpse of.

Their plan was to make Sadix’s trade ship invisible. Then, while The Howling Wolf still remained visible and connected to the trade ship, and while the trade ship was still flying, Remix and Vanko would run into the Howling Wolf. There, they would fastly disconnect The Howling Wolf from the now invisible trade ship, letting Sadix escape from the Police, protected by invisibility. Remix and Vanko would then tell the Galactic Police that they were kept hostages in Sadix’s ship, who had compelled the two, with the help of weaponry, to make the trade ship invisible and thus, allow Sadix to get away.

Making the trade ship invisible was what Remix was trying to achieve. One of the programming consoles was split into a number of smaller screens, each screen corresponding to a side of Sadix’s trade ship. In order to make the ship invisible, he had to make special hue, saturation and brightness adjustments, for each screen, and accordingly, for each side of the trade ship. But before he managed to do this, he couldn’t help having a little bit of fun. One of the interesting parts of setting the look of each side of the trade ship from the programming consoles was that this could be used to make real time graffiti.

The trade ship, with The Howling Wolf connected to it, turned left abruptly, causing the Police ships to almost crash into each other, in a rather silly way, after which, the word MEDIOCRE appeared, in large pink letters, on the back side of Sadix’s ship. Remix was laughing wildly.

“You damn idiot!” yelled both Sadix and Vanko at the same time, while Remix payed no attention to them at all.

After a few more minutes of messing with the commands, a message in large, human blood colored letters flickered where the word MEDIOCRE had been proudly displayed: WITNESS ME!

And then it happened. All in a split second.

It is clear that Remix, Vanko and Sadix’s refusal to listen to the loud warnings coming from the Police ships, warnings saying stuff like “Stop right there!”and “This is the Galactic Police!”, would determine the Galactic Police, sooner or later to start shooting. Unfortunately this was the moment when the ships of the Galactic Police started sending thin, but easily penetrating missles flying into the walls of the trade ship.

A missle hit the trade ship a millionth second before it became invisible. But a millionth second was enough in order for the missile to penetrate the trade ship wall near the programming consoles, where Remix was standing. The damaged wall of the trade ship hermetically closed itself after the missile had entered at large speed, preventing the void surrounding the ship to enter the piloting room and make the whole ship explode. This was part of the security system of the trade ship. But the security system couldn’t prevent the missile flying through Remix’s chest, a few millimeters near his heart.

In a split second there was blood everywhere.

“FUCK!” yelled Vanko and Sadix at the same time.

Vanko rushed to Remix’s body, now sprawled on the floor. He took Remix’s head in his hands, and desperately tried to reassure Remix, who wasn’t actually hearing a word any more, his conscious slowly leaving him, the pain in his body growing almost unbearable.

“It will be OK, I promise!”

_So this is what happens… just before you dye…Your life flashes before your eyes…A voice said softly in Remix’s head. It was his voice, but at the same time, it wasn’t his voice._

“RUN AWAY! Run away while this ship is invisible!” yelled Sadix to Vanko. “Through the tube connecting our ships! NOW!”

_The first eight years of his life had been so good… Growing up at his parents’ farm, on the remote and idyllic planet of Hansol. A scarcely populated planet, but which delivered food for a whole subsector of the galaxy. That was the beautiful life…_

Vanko knew just what to do. They still had a few seconds before the now invisible trade ship and The Howling Wolf would be surrounded. Remix was lying on his back, half conscious, blood pouring out of the deadly wound. Vanko heaved Remix’s inert body on his back and made a run for it, out of the trade ship and into The Howling Wolf. Just before the Police surrounded the two ships, Sadix unlocked The Howling Wolf from the trade ship and the merchant was free to escape.

_His little brother, Horia, was born when Remix was eight years old. What a great time they had at the farm. It seemed that life was perfect and they would never need anything else._

Vanko rushed by Remix’s side. Remix’s wound was open both on his chest, and on his back, since the missle passed right through him. Vanko took his shirt off and covered Remix’s wound, in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

_And then, their parents dyed in an accident involving a couple of space ships, while Remix and Horia were on Hansol, Remix keeping an eye on the farm and on his baby brother. When their parents were supposed to come back from their trip, but two policemen came instead, Remix instantly knew something bad had happened._

“Damn”…mumbled Vanko, as the cabin of The Howling Wolf was suddenly filled with the voice of a police woman.

“This is the Galactic Police. Open the ship entrance immediately, or there will be consequences.”

_They were both taken to an orphanage on the planet Arnakad, at the opposite side of the galaxy from their sweet home planet, Hansol. It wasn’t easy. To ease up his soul and escape from the reality which seemed so cruel at that time, Remix started messing with black magic and all sorts of esoteric arts. But when life seemed the hardest, he met Vanko in the same orphanage, also an orphan. Vanko, 2 years older than Remix, soon became Remix’s best friend. Their common passion for space ships and all things technological drew them even closer._

Vanko put a bag he found nearby under Remix’s head, to put Remix in a more comfortable position.

“Elsa Herdevex from the Galactic Police speaking! Open up now or we will force the entrance in 10 seconds!”, warned the voice of the same police woman, in a tone which gave Vanko chills up and down his spine.

“Hold your horses…” he said, as he rushed to the entrance. Three police men and a woman, presumably the one who had spoken seconds before, were all awaiting in front of the ship entrance, standing on the small anti-gravitational platform outstretching 4 meters in front of the entrance, just like one would normally wait in front of the door of any house on the ground. And four Police ships were surrounding The Howling Wolf.

_Things were finally going well in his life… At the age of 16, Vanko being 18, they both managed to convince the heads of the orphanage to let them leave and take Horia with them. Vanko, being 18, became the legal supervisor of Remix and Horia… But of course supervising them was the last thing he did._

The four police members came rushing into the ship, guns in their hands. The woman, Elsa Herdevex, approached Vanko with a fierce look in her eyes.

“Where is Sadix?” she asked Vanko, pointing a gun at him. But then she and her mates saw Remix.

“Call a Galactic Ambulance!” she said to her mates, who quickly obeyed her.

She was now staring insistently at Vanko, who was frozen, hands up and nerves outstretched to the maximum.

“I don’t know, I swear…”, he managed to mumble.

“Don’t lie to me.” The police woman said, her green eyes piercing his, her gun almost touching his chest. For such a tough woman, she looked beautiful and feminine, Vanko thought. But what a stupid thought, under these circumstances!

_Vanko being a gifted mechanic and Remix a talented programmer, they both got hired on the same maintenance space ship, which they would call The Howling Wolf, their job being that of repairing broken space ships. They didn’t get payed very well, especially because they were very young and unexperienced, but also because their boss sucked, but they loved what they did. And Remix managed to support his little brother, who was still in school, but obviously a very gifted child. They lived in the same rented apartment and were happy. Horia was showing signs that he would become an even more talented software master than Remix, since with only 9 years old, he was already doing what Remix had been doing at the age of 14. But the heaven only lasted for about one year…_

“I swear I don’t know…”, Vanko repeated. “Look, just take care of him, he is dying!”, Vanko managed to get a grip on his own voice. “You shot him! And that merchant obliged us to get on his ship, when you came!”. He was now talking much faster. “We didn’t have a choice, he threatened us with weapons, if I knew where he was, I would tell you, but please, PLEASE… my mate is dying!”

She continued to stare at him for a few seconds, while the other three police men surrounded Remix and tried as best as they could to stop the bleeding.

_The heaven only lasted for one year… Until most of the governments of the planets passed a law, compelling parents and tutors with overly intelligent and highly gifted children to enroll their children to special educational centers. Many planetary governments even published lists with all the overly gifted children, who had to be enrolled to these centers. And Horia was on that list. Remix couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want anything to separate them, and neither did Horia. He didn’t understand why, in a galaxy where governmental abuse had been abolished a thousand years ago, after the Earth Tragedy, an abusive policy and a totalitarian practice were being forcely implemented. He didn’t grasp why the parents and tutors of the gifted children accepted it so easily! It is true, the campaigns in the mass media, promoting this action were strong. But after the Earth Tragedy, the mass media stopped being what it had been before the Tragedy. It turned itself from a puppet of the corporatocracy ruling the dying Earth into a useful tool of those who wanted true information! Why in the galaxy was this happening? How come the mass media campaigns made everyone accept this?! He knew he would have to escape with Horia on a remote planet, and live there until Horia would be 18._

“We’ll evaluate the amount of truth in your words a bit later. You are coming with us at the Memblex Police Headquarters. And the Ambulance will arrive in 4 minutes, hopefully your mate can be saved.” She said, as the three police men surrounded Vanko, and she went to look after Remix. But, at a closer look, when she realized who he was, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

*It is _that_ idiot*, she thought to herself, finding it hard to believe it. *What have you done now? You haven’t made it really well in life, have you…* When the Galactic Ambulance came, she found it really hard to break her train of thoughts. After so many years, she finally got to see the guy who used to live in the same town with her, on her home planet, Arnakad. The guy from the orphanage, who was a member of a weird gang… the rival gang of her own gang… *How small the galaxy is, after all…* She thought, right when the Ambulance took Remix away. Her eyes followed the stretcher, on which Remix’s inert body was gently placed, on its way to the entrance of the ship. *I’ll keep my eyes on you, boy*, she made a mental note and then turned to Vanko.

_The escape was planned. Remix and Horia said goodbye to Vanko, for what they thought would be the last time, in many years to come. Remix had rented a small space ship from Sadix. He would be flying Horia on a very little used rout, towards the planet Hexera III, a remote, isolated planet, one of the rather poor planets of the galaxy, mostly home of fishermen. No one would find them there. And no one would catch them on their way, if they strictly followed Sadix’s recommended rout. They met Sadix at the agreed hour, in the agreed place. They had very few things to carry, because they didn’t want to get hindered by anything, and because they would be starting a new life, so what would be the use of carrying their entire wardrobes with them._

“You are coming with us”, she said to Vanko.

Handcuffs were placed around his wrists and he left The Howling Wolf, straight for one of the Police ships.

*God… I hope Remix is ok…Please let him be ok…* He didn’t even dare to think about Remix’s brother and how he would bring Horia the bad news, if anything happened.

“And your space ship is taken into the Police custody.”, Elsa continued.

Vanko entered the Police ship without saying a word. He was too tired and too anxious. He didn’t want to think about anything right now and even a Police spaceship was a relief compared to the stress he had just been through.

_They were both inside the space ship rented more or less legally from the merchant Sadix. Everything was going according to the plan. But then, Remix did something completely stupid. Something irrational, which only a complete fool would do. Instead of following the route Sadix had told him about, he chose a shortcut. But to his surprise, there were more space ships flying in that area than he had expected. He panicked and exceeded the speed limit allowed in areas full of spaceships, speed limit displayed on the video screen of every space ship and calculated in real time by the space ship board computer, according to the ship density in the surrounding area… He exceeded the speed limit. He was caught by the Galactic Police. Horia was taken away, to an educational center designed for overly gifted children. Remix was sent back to the apartment he and Horia had shared with Vanko. The separation was too painful. Remix couldn’t bare looking into Horia’s eyes, which weren’t accusing at all, just very sad. All…because of Remix…This… he would never forgive himself…Bloody memories! Bloody stupidity!_

And then, an oxygen mask was placed on his face, the fresh air interrupting his thoughts and ceasing the pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Inspirations~  
> I didn't come up with the name Arnakad for the planet where Horia, Vanko and Remix spent their childhood! It is my best friend's idea, thank you, little planet!
> 
> Aaaand the part where Remix makes graffiti with "Mediocre" and "Witness me" is inspired from the movie Mad Max:Fury Road. In the movie, the emperor of a post apocalyptic community had an army of soldiers, called the warboys. The warboys were brainwashed to go to war and be proud to perform suicidal missions, thinking that they would go to Vallhala. And before a suicidal mission, a warboy would say "Witness me". There was also a part where one of the warboys wanted to impress the emperor, but he failed, at which point the emperor mumbled "Mediocre...". So, yes i used parts of the movie, but in my own setting.
> 
> I don't know yet if America and Russia will even appear as characters, or wether their names will only be mentioned. I wanted to mention this in the story summary, but there is a character limit...
> 
> And i am thinking of introducing Greece, i think i found a role for him, but i don't know yet.
> 
> Chapter 3 was updated sooner then presumed. Next chapter will be updated in August. Or maybe the end of July, i can't tell right now.


	4. The Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems that in the galaxy, as evolved as times may be, something is not right...

The first thing that Remix had found after coming back from hospital was an immaculate white post card, waiting for him inside his Personal Post Cubicle from the apartment he and Vanko shared. Personal Post Cubicles were quite a thing, as they permitted mail to be delivered to the recipients through teleportation, which reduced the amount of time one had to wait for an answer regarding a particular problem quite considerably. Unfortunately, even in these evolved times, teleportation could only be applied to small, light objects, as the results of this phenomenon on all other objects caused accidents one should not even think of.

Still dizzy from all the meds which had been pumping through his veins over the last two weeks, he had taken the card out of the Cubicle, which increased his dizziness even more, due to the brightness of the white of the post card. If there was such thing as perfect white, this was it. Unfortunately for the eyes of Remix, perfect white wasn’t quite comfortable, since due to the dim sun of his home planet Hansol, he didn’t grow to like bright colors very much. As he had held the card into the light coming through the window, neat, perfect black letters became visible on the card.

“Mr. Remix,

Galactistrate Services is pleased to announce you, that taking into consideration our policy regarding clients who have suffered extreme accidents, corroborated with The Commercial Galactic Code, The Galactic Code of Ethics and the Specific Legislation of the Real Estate Renting Field, Galactistrate Services is granting you a delay of three months in respecting your rent payment obligations.

We hope to hear from you soon and wish you a rapid recovery.

Yours faithfully,

The Galactistrate Services Team”

Well, at least _that_ got cleared up, Remix thought, as he was leaving the Phyride Spaceport. Phyride was one of the planets from the Amereides planetary system, which was one of the most developed planetary systems in the galaxy, in terms of economy and technology. The spaceport for the peoples’ arrivals and departures occupied 30 square miles, but it was nothing compared to the spaceport designed for industry and trade flights nearby, which was occupying no less than 100 square miles. And such trade spaceports were placed in more than 200 locations, on each planet of the Amereides planetary system. Huge cargo trade ships charged with the most delicate technological devices were sent from the Amereides system, to tens of other planets in our galaxy, just to come back heavy with money. And this reflected in the life style and general aspect of the four inhabited planets of the Amereides system.

Remix was walking along a medium wide street within a town on Phyride. This was where Horia lived, in one of the many education centers designed for mentally overly gifted children. Three years ago, when a damned law which compelled the families of overly gifted children to enroll their children in special education centers and after Remix’s failed attempt to escape with Horia on an isolated planet, Horia was taken into the custody of the center for overly gifted children on planet Phyride, center run by Ivanux. Ivanux was a strange person, who gave Remix chills every time they met. And this was one of the reasons Remix chose to only visit Horia outside the visiting hours established by Ivanux. The other reason being, that Remix felt an utmost sense of joy every time he broke the rules of the education center, by this also implying the rules established by the planetary authorities who implemented that law. As he was walking down the street and towards the education center, he was wondering how many parents were suffering because of this damn law. The official reason given by the planetary authorities was that mentally overly gifted children couldn’t be well taken care of within normal schools. And thus they needed to be enrolled in these special education centers, where they would receive an education suited to their gifted minds. But Remix had a feeling that something was wrong, that this wasn’t the real reason for it at all. And even if it was… Would that be a right thing?

As the education center became visible on the horizon, Remix tried to shake his low spirits off. Entering the education center outside the permitted visiting hours required a bit of skill and was quite complicated. But being focused on the present, with a cheerful, but vigilant mindset was quite difficult now, with all these thoughts in his head. Ame Richko, the governor of the Amereides planetary system, was the most insistent promoter of the law which separated Horia and Remix. This was why Remix didn’t like Ame Richko at all. And, as if things couldn’t get more unpleasant, while waiting in the line at the Phyride spaceport to pick his bag up, he was forced to hear one of Ame’s speeches, broadcasted live on the huge galactivision screens placed on the interior walls of the spaceport. It was one of those speeches where Richko talked about the economic progress obtained by the Amereides planetary system. Remix had tried to stuff his headphones on his ears to replace Richko’s bombastic speech with some chill out music, but that was quite ineffective, since the volume of the galactivision screens was very high.

And was this just happening inside Remix’s mind, or did Horia really have a somewhat distant attitude the last times Remix visited? As the entrance of the education center was now clearly visible, Remix tried to clear his mind from this thought. But the thought kept nibbling at him. Maybe it was all in his mind. Maybe Horia was just tired or had a bad period of time. Maybe he wasn’t becoming colder at all.

*Fuck this, fuck everything!* thought Remix, as he finally reached the entrance of the education center. It was night now, everyone inside the center was sleeping, at least the lights were turned off. Remix was standing in front of the entrance, embraced by a silence he didn’t like, but that was the silence which always surrounded the education center. He searched inside his bag for the item which would help him enter the center, and found it.

The best thing about being a hacker (although they all liked to call themselves “actually an IT engineer, and not even a very good one to be honest, I don’t know why they hired me, honestly”) was that one could always find out all sorts of things hidden from the other people, things buried well deep into the layers of the galactinet, way under the visible layer open to everyone. And while searching for methods to break inside the education center, he found the data base of all the employees the Phyride center ever had, from the opening of the center, up until now. Unfortunately for Ivanux, whoever was taking care of the data bases of the center, didn’t bother deleting the former employees from the data base. Which basically meant that anyone who got their hands on the badge or ID card of any deceased or former employee of the center could get in. And Remix decided to get his hands on something belonging to a former deceased employee, and which would allow him to break in. Unfortunately, badges and ID cards were the last things he could find.

What he instead found, or actually what the merchant Sadix found for him, was the eye of the corpse of a former employee, well high in the hierarchy of the center. How Sadix got his hands on an eye of the corpse, involved breaking into a mortuary, running away from the Galactic Police and putting the merchant’s life in great danger, which increased the price of the item considerably, putting Remix on longtime debt. But it was well worth it, thought Remix.

Remix was now holding a small transparent refrigerating cube, which contained and preserved well the eye belonging to the former employee of the education center. He couldn’t help but raise the refrigerating cube in the air, so that the ambient light fell on the blue iris. *The color catches the light beautifully*, thought Remix and could barely refrain his laughter. Back to serious business. He placed the cube, iris forward, in front of the small black access cubicle near the entrance. After a few seconds, the words “Access approved” flickered in small green letters on the screen of the access cubicle, and Remix could open the door.

But if only things were that easy. Of course, Remix knew what he should expect, since this happened every time. After taking the first steps inside the center, he was greeted by a small, spherical robot, hovering in the air. It was one of those robots with the official role of greeting people, but with the real duty of kicking them out, if they weren’t on the guest list. An unpleasant metallic voice greeted:

“Sir, how can I be of service?”

“By stepping aside, so I could get on with my business”, said Remix cheerfully.

“I am afraid I need to know the reason of your visit, Sir.”, answered the robot, with a slight irritation starting to ignite in his little artificial voice.

“Look, I …”, said Remix, but then he pressed a hand onto his chest and leaned on a nearby wall. “Actually, I …”

“Sir are you alright?” asked the robot, hovering closer to Remix.

“Actually… I have this sudden dizziness…Oh no…”, mumbled Remix, as his knees got even weaker. “Can you please call a doctor?”, asked Remix, in a weak voice.

“Right away, Sir! You just wait here 5 seconds.”, answered the hovering spherical robot and quickly turned away, heading to the nearest telephone.

That was when Remix jumped the robot. With the cloth which had been hanging from his belt, Remix coated the robot, dragged it to the floor and threw himself over it. He had to use all his force to maintain himself on top of the cloaked robot, which was using all its energy to basically fly upwards right through Remix.

“No… you… don’t…” whispered Remix through gritted teeth. He had to find the circuits of the robot fast, or else the robot would start the alarm inside the whole building, through the wi-fi communication system connecting every being run by a software inside the center.

And there they were. Two small wires. All Remix had to do was twist them a bit, thus making the robot feel happy all the times, not just when it caught someone breaking in the building. In just three second’s time, the hovering, spherical robot turned from a grumpy software-based being into a happy robot.

“Sir, I am so glad to see you!” chirped the little robot, as Remix took the cloth off it and let it hover in the air again.

“Shhh, not so loud!”, said Remix. “I want you to send signals everywhere inside the building, telling all other software-based beings, robots and demons that everything is fine, ok?”

“Done!”, chirped the robot again, this time in a whisper.

“From now on your name will be Jay Z, got it?”, asked Remix.

“Oh, what a name, what a lovely name!” answered the robot, in a delighted tone.

What Remix liked to do was naming the robot, each time he did the wires-twist which would change the state of mind of the robot, if it actually had such a thing as a state of mind. And of course, each time he would use a different name. Now, he chose to use the name of a person said to have been a well known rapper on Earth, in the days before space travel. Ivanux would notice that, on certain occasions, the robot wouldn’t want to answer when called by its usual name, which was Zapple 7, not to mention the sudden twist in its attitude. Ivanux knew that Remix was behind it all, but just couldn’t prove it.

Remix climbed the stairs to the 3rd floor, where Horia’s room was, with Jay Z, hovering right behind him. Just before he knocked on the door, he took a few seconds to lean on the wall in front of his brother’s room. The whole fight with the robot left him almost drained. He wasn’t fully recovered from the Police incident and, what before the accident had required no effort at all, was now exhausting him. *Damn police…*, thought Remix, and then knocked on the door.

The door opened and in the doorway stood a boy, about eleven years old, with ruffled dark hair and piercing eyes, in a night gown which looked too large for his size.

“Remix!” he almost yelled, and his arms tightened around Remix’s waist, head resting on his chest, while Remix held his brother’s shoulders in a tight hug. They stood like that in the doorway for a few seconds, after which Remix suggested they entered the room before anyone could see them, Jay Z following in closely. Luckily for them, Horia’s roommate was away visiting his family, so the two could be alone. They sat down on Horia’s bed, facing the window.

“How’s it going?”, asked Remix. “It’s been a month since I didn’t come… Due to the stupid Police incident, you know.”

“Everything’s fine”, said Horia. “As usual…”, but then turned quickly to Remix and put his palms on his chest, his searching eyes piercing Remix’s . “But how about you? Did you recover? You look pale.”

“I’m fine… No worries. Every now and then I get these small twinges, but it’ll pass in a month or so…”

“And your shirt is ripped. Did you have a hard fight with the robot?”, asked Horia waving his head slightly towards Jay Z, which was hovering near the ceiling.

“His name is Jay Z. And yes, we had such a great time just moments ago.” Answered Remix cheerfully.

“I’ll make you a new shirt soon.”, said Horia firmly.

In the galaxy there were such things as Portable Wardrobes. They were small little items in the shape of gem stones. All you had to do was wear one, attached to a piece of jewelry or in your pocket, and it would instantly materialize into the clothes you were having in mind at that moment, nicely wrapped around your body. So long to weeks-long shopping trips and hours of manufacturing. Hello to real time clothing. Of course, there were the ones who preferred the old school way. But in Remix and Horia’s case there wasn’t a choice. It seemed that the Portable Wardrobe simply refused to work on some people, more precisely the kind whose thoughts were too fast. This was an issue which the producers of the Portable Wardrobe promised to address, but this didn’t happen until now.

Horia turned out to be a very talented tailor and found joy in creating Remix’s clothes, as well as his own.

“The last one you did with the stripes was cool. You are gifted in so many ways, you know.”,Remix said, while putting his arm around Horia’s shoulders.

“It’s nothing, really.”, Horia smiled. “You know, what…?” A sneaky expression suddenly appeared on Horia’s face. “Let’s play something”, he said in a whisper, while looking at Jay Z.

Remix followed his little brother’s gaze and knew what Horia meant. In a few minutes they were playing football in Horia’s room, Jay Z in the role of the ball, and being quite happy about it. The only problem was keeping it low, so that they wouldn’t wake anyone, especially not Ivanux. At irregular intervals, Jay Z would squeak exclamations of excitement, feeling that being a ball was his true calling in life.

After an hour or so, they were lying drained out, but happy on Horia’s bed, staring at the ceiling, where Jay Z was hovering again.

“How is Ivanux… treating you?”, Remix dared ask, knowing this was a theme which Horia didn’t quite like. Horia suddenly got up from the bed and walked to the window, back against Remix.

“Fine…”

“That doesn’t sound too fine…”

“Remix, you’re always asking this and I’m always giving you the same answer, because this is how it is, ok?”, said Horia in a twist of mood, suddenly acting too mature for his age, trying to hide the annoyance he felt every time Remix asked the same question, but at the same time attempting not to ruin the joyful atmosphere within the room up until this point.

“Because I have a feeling you’re not telling the truth and I really want to help, but if you are hiding stuff, then I can’t too well.”, Remix spoke in a hurry, trying to appease his now nervous young brother, who was still facing the window, face turned away from Remix.

“Come on, it’s ok if you don’t want to talk about this, maybe we’ll talk about this an other time. Or in a future life. So…how is it going with school and stuff?”, Remix attempted to change the subject. But Horia didn’t answer, he remained motionless, staring at the window.

“Horia…”, whispered Remix in a soothing tone, and got up to his feet to join Horia by the window, but he almost slipped as he stepped on a small rectangular item. He picked the item up from the floor and after a second’s examination, exclaimed:

“Horia, since when do you smoke?!”

Horia quickly turned around taken aback, large eyes now facing Remix.

“I don’t smoke, really!”, Horia said in a hurry, but Remix rolled his eyes in disbelief.

“Sometimes… I just can’t sleep. I have this insomnia every once in a while…”, Horia whispered. “And a few cigarettes help me sleep. But that’s all, I mean, I don’t smoke on other occasions!”

“You… are too young for this, Horia. You know I’m the last person to be moralizing… But it really is too early.”

For a moment, there was only silence, which was then broken by Remix’s question.

“Hey… do you mind if I take a few? I’m broke as hell, you know…”

“Sure, be my guest!”, answered Horia, cheerful again.

But just as Remix was removing a few cigarettes from the pack, the pack somehow slipped from his fingers, right into the garbage can near one of the walls of the room.

“Whoops…”, chirped Remix, guilty look on his face.

“Brother, I spent a fortune on those…”, whined Horia.

“Don’t worry my little brother, a true smoker picks his cigarettes up from anywhere! Though I hope you never become one.”

Horia chuckled, rolling his eyes, as Remix sticked the cigarettes in one of his pockets.

“How’s it going with school?”, asked Remix.

“Everything’s fine”, answered Horia, but then the playful look on his face suddenly turned into a concerned glare, as he remembered.

“Brother, there is something I don’t like at all”, he continued. “We no longer have the Earth Hour. And I really liked that!”, the kid complained, at which point Remix exclaimed in disbelief:

“Impossible! I mean… why would they want to do this?!”

The Earth Hour was an hour per months, in which the Earth Tragedy was presented to students of all ages, from the youngest ones just enrolled in schools, to the teenagers just finishing high school. After the Earth Tragedy, when humanity had finally discovered space travel and was free to escape from the dying Earth, the Earth Hour was introduced in all the schools from all the planets inhabited by humans, as a reminder of what once happened and what must never happen again. Each Earth Hour presented the young students a different tragedy. On some occasions it taught of cyanide rivers and fractured earth. On other occasions, mindless forest cuttings which gave birth to barren deserts, oil and junk pouring into the oceans from large, heavy industrial cargo ships belonging to corporations were presented. No part of the Earth Tragedy was left out, and this way, at the end of high school, every young adult had a clear understanding of the tragedy which was, and which must never again be. Of the disasters caused by greed, and especially of the dangers of letting corporations rule the world.

And now, the Earth Hour was no longer taught, at least not in the Phyride education center.

“Have you tried talking to Ivanux?! Or, if he is stupid, to anyone else?”, asked Remix, outraged. His anger wasn’t directed at anyone in particular, but it was unacceptable for every human inhabitant of the galaxy, that there would, at some point, be no such thing as the Earth Hour any more.

“We tried talking to him”, answered Horia, again looking very mature for his age. “But what he said was that it wasn’t his decision to remove the Earth Hour from the curriculum. He said the orders came from way above him, and he just had to obey them. I don’t think it is Ivanux’s fault, Remix”.

Remix tried to keep calm, although he was always annoyed when Horia defended Ivanux in such a determined manner.

“This is bad… really bad…”, said Remix, looking lost. “I mean, it is unacceptable. The Earth Tragedy will be forgotten if all the schools remove the Earth Hour. And… who knows what might happen then?”

“I know…”, Horia said, in a just as dazed and confused tone.

But the time was ticking and the sun would rise soon, meaning that the Phyride education center would become lively, so Remix had to leave. After a warm hug, the two brothers departed again, Remix managing to leave the center with the help of Jay Z, which was sending “Everything is ok, do not ring the alarm” signals to every other software-based being within the center, and Horia staring at the garbage can, wondering whether to pick up the pack, or not to pick up the pack.

***

In the headquarters of the Galactic Police on planet Memblex there was quite a hectic atmosphere. The funds had been diminished, which produced several hinders to the daily activity of the staff, so now extra hours were something quite usual.

It was late evening and Elsa Herdevex, Junior Police Officer with a bright career in front of her, or at least it’s what she hoped, was sitting at her desk, feeling tired after a hard day of work. She cursed the heads of the Galactic Police, for their stupid decision of lowering the funds, as she took an other sip of the fifth cup of the coffee that day.

She had been studying Remix’s bio for a couple of hours. She started investigating his past after the incident with the merchant Sadix, whom the Police still didn’t manage to find, when she had found Remix almost dead in the maintenance ship which had been connected to Sadix’s trade ship.

She had totally forgotten about Remix, as people sometimes forget the past to make room for the present and plans for the future. But finding Remix in Sadix’s entourage determined her to analyse the past of the young programmer. Yes, after the incident, Vanko told the Police that he and Remix were in no relationship with the merchant, other than a normal business relationship, Vanko and Remix having to repair Sadix’s trade ships in exchange for some money. Of course, she didn’t believe that, but she had no clue to prove the contrary.

<Remix, young IT engineer working on a maintenance ship informally called The Howling Wolf, together with his mate, the mechanic Vanko. >

<Was placed in an orphanage with his younger brother Horia, after their parents died in a tragic space travel accident. There, he met Vanko, and when Vanko was 18 and Remix two years younger, they left the orphanage and got hired on the maintenance ship.>

 

Of course, she also found the report of the incident when Remix tried to escape with Horia on a remote planet at the edge of the galaxy, so that the authorities wouldn’t bring Horia into their custody, forcing the gifted child to spend his childhood in a center dedicated to educating mentally gifted youth.

*Ah, Remix… It seems you haven’t changed much*, thought Elsa, as memories started awakening in her mind.

She had met Remix on her home planet, Arnakad. The orphanage was in the same town where she lived – Arnatown. They were only silly kids turning into teenagers. Remix, the gifted orphan, who became popular among a gang of teenagers from Arnatown due to his skills in repairing all sorts of gadgets…And he soon became a regular member of that gang, which incidentally happened to be the rival gang of the gang Elsa was part of… *Silly teenager stuff…*, Elsa thought to herself. And at some point Remix’s and Elsa’s cliques started getting involved in neighborhood fights. Whoever won those fights wasn’t important, essential was that they were all naïve and hot headed, fighting over areas of Arnatown to call their own.

Childhood memories started flooding her head as she started to read Remix’s biography displayed on her lap top screen for the fourth time this day. The two had a sick pleasure in causing pain to one another. What determined her to hate the guts out of Remix was a silly incident, where, at a neighborhood party, he had suggested they stopped fighting each other. She thought he was being honest, at which point they started drinking and after a few hours were barely conscious of the surrounding world, having drank more than their young bodies could handle. The next day, she found out that everything was just the subject of a bet Remix had made with one of his gang mates, his mate saying that Remix could never get Elsa drunk, while Remix insisting on the contrary. The rage she felt back then…

Of course, Remix said he wouldn’t have done this if he hadn’t been cornered and beaten up by the members of Elsa’s gang a few days before, at night, on a lonely alley of Arnatown. But Elsa’s mates weren’t like the hooligans from Remix’s gang. She was sure her mates wouldn’t do such a thing. Remix was only inventing excuses to make fun of her.

And things went on like that for about two years, when she decided to apply for a job in the Galactic Police, while Remix decided not to spend that much time in the company of his gang members any more and get more into programming instead. A few years after their roads parted, a former member of Elsa’s clique told her that everyone could sense the attraction between her and Remix, except for the two. At which point, Elsa ended that conversation abruptly and went for a drink.

And now, fate had brought them together again. She conducted her investigation at Remix and Vanko’s employer, too. There, she found a list of all the maintenance missions Remix and Vanko conducted over the last two years. The loosely approximate locations and the dates.

And on the other side of the screen stood a list with all the complaints of galactic authorities which accused illegal breakings of their private data bases, in other words, someone hacking inside their systems.

*Remix… What are you doing, kid?*

Almost every time a galactic authority complained that someone had hacked their data bases, Remix had a mission in the same subsector of the galaxy, where the said authority resided. These incidents were too many to be just coincidences.

*Strange hobby you have, Remix*, Elsa contemplated, *but thinking of how you liked to mess with, what you used to call the dark arts, hacking into data bases doesn’t seem so strange actually*

But Elsa was angry. If only she could find Remix’s exact location in the galactic subsector where he had been dwelling, while an authority from the same subsector had accused unauthorized data leaks from their data bases! Unfortunately, Remix was good at hiding his tracks, so the Police couldn’t find information about the exact location of The Howling Wolf within a certain subsector at a given date. At least not until now.

“Damn!”, she exclaimed aloud, and hit the desk with her fist.

***

It was midnight when Remix returned to the rented apartment he shared with Vanko, and Vanko, dressed in his favorite pajamas with a yogurt glasses print, was just getting ready for sleep.

“Mornin’!”, greeted Remix.

“In your head maybe…”, mumbled Vanko sleepy. He couldn’t wait to fall asleep, as his last few days had been quite hard, due to Remix’s absence motivated by visiting Horia. Just as he was heading to his room, where he would sleep like a log for the next 10 hours or so, Remix ran towards the doorway.

“I want to sleep, now, talk to you tomorrow”, said Vanko, while trying to push Remix out of his way.

“Look, I need to talk to you about some things.”, Remix said in an unusually serious tone.

“What happened to you, becoming so serious all of a sudden…”, said Vanko irritated, still attempting to push Remix away. “Did you smoke something on your way back, or what? Ahh, will you be so kind as to fuck off?!”

“Look, Vanko, some things are happening and I don’t know what to believe.”

“No talking, jus sleeping at this late hour of the night.”, said Vanko, as he finally managed to push Remix away, but Remix entered Vanko’s room, not giving any signs he would drop the conversation until tomorrow. Vanko, dark circles under his eyes, laid on his bed, back against Remix, totally ignoring his apartment mate.

“Will you just listen for a few minutes?”, Remix asked.

“The Galactifone customer is not responding, please tried again later.”, cited Vanko.

“They have removed Earth Hour from the list of whatever they’re teaching at the center.”, said Remix abruptly. Vanko turned slowly to face Remix, propped on an elbow.

“Did Horia say this, what did he smoke…?”

“Once a year you make a joke and it’s a bad one!”, Remix said uneasily. “Yes, Horia said they no longer have the Earth Hour. Ivanux allegedly received orders from… high above… and according to Horia, Ivanux was just obeying those orders. I don’t know if that part is true, but bottom line is… weird things are happening.”

“If this is true, then it is weird indeed.”, said Vanko thoughtfully. “I mean… the Earth Hour is sacred, you can’t just erase it, it is the only thing reminding us of the Dark Ages!”

“My point exactly! And how about that law which basically confiscated the gifted kids from their families? As if the authorities have the right to own them! And the mass media campaigns promoting the stupid law? And everybody accepting it so easily! I mean, don’t you think it’s all just too… unusual?”

“Yeah…”, Vanko said thoughtfully, now sitting on the edge of his bed. “Maybe you are exaggerating making it all sound like a conspiracy or something… But it is very unusual.”

They stood in silence for a short while.

“I’ll tell you what, let’s talk about this tomorrow, I can’t think right after the days I’ve had…”

“Yeah, sorry about the absence.”, replied Remix.

“Not your fault.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Inspirations~  
> The idea of twisting the circuits of a robot in order to make it happy all the times, not just when it fulfills its duty of catching intruders is taken from Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". There is one part in the novel where one of the characters (Ford Prefect :) ) manages to break into a building just by doing the same thing to the guardian robot, as Remix did.
> 
> And the robot's reply "Oh, what a name, what a lovely name!", after Remix renames it, is inspired from Mad Max: Fury Road. In the movie, one of the characters (the warboy Nux, my favorite character of the whole movie!) said something similar, although in a very different context. I just felt the need to include some replies from this movie in the story, because i really love that movie.
> 
> ~Some stuff i had in mind as i wrote this chapter, but didn't include in the chapter~  
> Regarding Elsa's flashback with her and Remix's childhood in Arnatown, when Remix got her drunk. I don't know what anyone might be imagining, but in my head nothing serious happened between them. According to the time line, they were about 14-15 in Elsa's memories. So, i think Remix only whispered sweet nothings in her year and innocent stuff like that after getting her drunk, but nothing more. Of course, the reader is free to imagine anything else :)  
> And about the part when Elsa investigates Remix's hacking, but doesn't find anything edifying. Here's how i imagine hacking: when a hacker hacks a galactic authority, the authority can see the exact location of the hacker, whether the hacker is in a space ship, or on a planet. But in order for the Galactic Police to catch the hacker, the Police must prove that the hacker was physically at the location detected by the authority. And in order to prove this, the Police can spy on the hacker's computer, although sometimes they fail to find it. Aaand inside the hacker's computer the Police must find a proof that the computer was found in the location detected by the authority at the date given by the authority. And the Police can't do that very well with Remix's computer, since all they find in his computer is the galactic subsectors he's flown through, not the exact locations he's been to. I don't know if this makes any sense :)) But i thought it'd be good to mention it, because i didn't describe hacking really detailed in the chapter, as i thought it would be irrelevant.
> 
> Again, the chapter was uploaded faster than presumed. Had more time than i thought. Next chapter will probably be uploaded in August. If not, then in September, but i hope i can manage in August.
> 
> Maybe the whole thing will have 8 chapters, not 7.


	5. The New Galactic Order

Imagine you are blind and walking along a narrow tunnel. Everything before you is pure blackness, as well as everything behind you. There is no hue to help you. All that you can learn is what you perceive with your fingertips gently touching the walls of the tunnel as you walk forward. The floor is made of sand. As blind as you are, you must cover your tracks, so that you don’t leave any footprints behind you, after you leave the tunnel. Take a step, cover your tracks, that is the general rule. You forget to cover one footmark with the sand available on the floor around you, you are in trouble.

Now, imagine that what your fingers touch along the walls, as well as the floor made of sand, are no more than information particles – that which everything is made of in the galactinet – digits of 0 and 1.

Every hacker found enormous pleasure in spending time in these dark tunnels, virtually walking along and finding out things hidden from other people, just by touching the virtual walls and sensing the patterns encrypted therein. Whenever they found out something interesting or intriguing, there was always reason to celebrate. Unfortunately, they could only disclose their hobby to one or two close friends, and in some cases, to none, which meant that celebrating mainly consisted of enjoying a few drinks or a wild round of the popular computer game Galaxy of Warcraft, playing along with anonymous likeminded people.

Remix was virtually walking along one of these tunnels, spread out fingers softly touching the walls, mind concentrated like a laser beam, oblivious to everything else in the galaxy. And what he found out was too terrifying even for a dystopian novel. Just when everyone in the galaxy thought that the Dark Ages were over and that the memory of the Earth Tragedy would prevent them to ever come back, what he was now reading proved the contrary.

_What we intend to do is bring back the past. Yes, we said it loud and clear. The corporatocracy, as many disadvantages as it had… inspired people with a sort of discipline, hard to see nowadays._

Remix had to stop for a few seconds to catch his virtual breath. On the sofa which he laid sprawled over, lap top in front of him, he took a break to light a cigarette, and after a few minutes he dived back in again.

_Back in those days, people knew how to obey. They were boring, but obedient, just like little robots. In other words… efficient. Even in these evolved times, one thousand years after what they all call the “Earth Tragedy”, planets are still facing economic problems. The galactic economy is far from perfect. Just think about how many complain about the Darth Ministrator…_

*Lol, that is true!*, thought Remix, and then further deciphered along.

_“We refuse to work like slaves for small salaries, not having time for our loved ones, not having energy to learn something new and develop ourselves”, they said after they left Earth. “From now on, we shall create instead of toil for others, whom we don’t know and who don’t know us.” And thus the authorities lost their… authority. But how can we gain back that authority and turn these disobedient, free minded people into useful productive beings once again? That is the questions, but I do believe we have some answers._

*Productive… Whaa…? Buy a fucking robot, will you?!*

_First of all, ladies and gentlemen, back when we conquered the Earth only to lose it, we made one big mistake: we conquered the planet too fast. And it is clear to me that we must not make the same mistake again, if we want to become what we were a thousand years ago. Now, we must take things step by step. The people from nowadays are no longer the ignorant, easy to manipulate herd, listening to the mass media like it were the Bible, thinking that schools are the best place children should spend their childhood in, believing that laboring for a corporation 12 hours a day is the key to success. If we try to enforce that behavior on them over a short period of time, they will figure out that something is…wrong, as they would probably put it._

*You’re damn right it’s wrong, you faceless thing!*

_So, I have come up with a plan, to slowly change people’s mindsets, over a couple of tens of years, or even more, we’ll adjust as we go. With their mindsets changed, we can continue building The Productive World._

*I will build a cursing machine.*

_Step one. Who is more likely to suspect things are changing and freedom is quickly diminishing? The most intelligent people in the galaxy, of course! The mentally overly gifted!_

*Oh, no…*

_So, the best thing to do is take away the mentally gifted and educate them in the spirit we want to imprint on them. It is too late for the adults, so we will start with the children. This plan has already begun a few years ago, when, with the help of Mr. Ame Richko’s campaigns, a law compelling the families of mentally overly gifted children to enroll their children in specially designed education centers was successfully passed on most of the planets of the Milky Way. And, gentlemen… we must do something about the other planets… but we’ll discuss this later. In these centers we have started to educate the overly gifted children in the spirit of productivity and obedience to authorities, making them respect rules easier and think less. This way, we are trying to temper their dangerously high intelligence and lower their inquiring spirit, so that they don’t stand in our way, when we start implementing the big changes…_

*Horia!* Remix almost choked. He could barely continue deciphering. *And that bloody Richko, I knew something was wrong about him! Damn!*

_Step two. How can we change the youth’s mindset, so that they accept us? By changing how and what they learn, of course. We will start with the mentally gifted children from our special education centers, and later move on to the rest of the schools throughout the galaxy. In order to make them accept our future, we must delete the memory of the past from their pure minds. And we will start by removing the Earth Hour. Once they forget about the so called Earth Tragedy, they won’t see our actions as a threat any more, and thus will welcome them._

*It seemed suspicious when Horia told me! Damn! Too bad you can never turn gifted children into your stupid robots, cuz otherwise Horia wouldn’t have been so pissed about the removal of the Earth Hour, you idiots!*

_Step 3. The average life span of human beings is between 150 and 200 years, depending on the planet they live on. For the moment this concurs with our life span, as well. So, we can only make plans for the next 150 years or so. Of course, we can always transmit our plans to the ones who will continue our project in the future. But how can we know if they stick to the plan?_

*So now you want to be immortal, or what?*

_We can’t know this for sure. So the best thing is to supervise our successors well after we are officially retired and they have taken over. Gentlemen, it is logical that we must prolong our life spans. And organ transplants are perfect for this! I want each and every one of you to conduct researches which must result in data bases with possible donors for each of us. As many donors for each agent as possible. And whenever one feels their health starts to degrade… you know just what to do._

*This is sick! Who the hell are these people?! And who the hell do they think they are? I’ve only got one name so far and that is Ame Richko. I need more names…*

_Oh and… gentlemen?_

*Gentlebeasts maybe…*

_Maybe we can also determine the heads of the Galactic Police to accept lowering the funds for that authority. Fewer funds… more insecurity… maybe the people will come and beg us themselves to cut their rights and freedoms in exchange for the security they will be longing for… This would be too good to be true, but who knows? And with this, I shall leave you alone so you can go on with your business. See you at the next meeting next month. Have a great day, the future is bright!_

*Bright as the fires of hell, maybe! Oh, God! I can’t believe I am reading this!* Remix was now virtually walking faster along the tunnel. He was desperately trying to find out more about this. But it seemed this was all he could get his hands on. And this was right, because, just as he was rushing forward, he hit a virtual wall, blocking the tunnel.

Every forbidden tunnel ended, at some point, in a blind alley. There were times when a hacker could decipher a password or any other type of code which would make the virtual wall blocking the tunnel slide aside, so that the illegal wanderer could continue their blind walk. Other times, it seemed that the blind alley was simply unremovable. And this was one of these times. During the following hours Remix tried to decipher the code which would allow him to continue on the forbidden path, but in vain. This journey lasted the whole night and he had to return to his daily responsibilities, as much as he didn’t want to right now. So, he turned back, covering his tracks with immense care, but not forgetting to leave a message carved with one finger on a wall:

“Congratulations, you’ve been hacked!

By the White Wolf.”

***

Back to reality, Remix was lying in bed in his room, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. *This sucks… This sucks so much…* Memories of his failed attempt to run away with Horia flooded his mind, making him want to scream. He took the cell phone, intending to call Horia, but then changed his mind.

*What to do, damn it!?*

He didn’t want to tell Vanko yet. He already troubled his friend with his absence whenever he had to take a few days off to visit Horia. Plus, they would be having a few busy days, with many space ships waiting to be repaired.

After another half of hour of thinking, he knew what to do. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing… it was surely the most unpleasant! But he couldn’t think of anything else. If he sent the transcript of the secret discussion to the galactivision channels, he wouldn’t be taken seriously.

***

Feeling tired was something usual among the members of the Galactic Police, since the funds had been diminished a few months ago. Everybody was cursing the heads of the Police, but all that the latter could say was that they received orders from high above. Malfunctioning devices, never enough money for reparations, a much longer time to respond to complaints… This just wasn’t good at all…

All these thoughts were crowding Elsa Herdevex’s mind, as she was sitting at her desk, head in her hands and lap top in front of her. But her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden rumpus igniting just in front of the closed door of her office.

“Sir, stay calm, nothing good will come out of this”, she heard the voice of a police man, through the closed door.

“Let go of me, you talking wardrobe!”, said an other voice, probably belonging to the one caught off guard while doing something presumably illegal.

“Sir, you are not allowed to enter outside the approved schedule for lodging complaints with the Police!”

“Aaaaargh!”

“And that will be 200 galactrians fine for vandalizing a public building.”, said the voice of an other police man.

Elsa rubbed her temples. *You’ve got to be kidding me…I have way more important things to take care of…*

“It is not vandalism, it is modern art, you illiterate!”, exclaimed the voice of the alleged criminal, most probably a young male looking for trouble.

“And this graffiti spray is confiscated.”, added the voice of the first police man.

“It is not graffiti, it is mascara! And let go of me, I had a deadly injury just a month ago, you brute!”, yelled the vandal.

“Ahaha… so you use mascara!”, said the second police man amused. “I’ll take this spray to the room of confiscated items, then.”

“Wait, it is not even your color, man!”, exclaimed the vandal in despair.

*Ok, this is enough!* , thought Elsa outraged, and hastily headed towards the door of her desk and opened it.

“Ok, what is going on here?”, asked Elsa, in an exhausting attempt to keep calm. Before her, two police men were holding an agitated young man, dressed in baggy clothes, with uncombed hair falling on his face and an irritated look in his heated eyes.

“We caught this one vandalizing one of the buildings nearby, belonging to the headquarters of the Galactic Police, Ms. Herdevex.”, answered one of the police men.

“With graffiti!”, added the second police man, as if referring to a deadly weapon, after which his mate continued:

“We caught him on camera, but he ran away, heading for the entrance of this building, howling that he had to communicate something urgent to the Police, but we clearly explained him that lodging complaints outside the permitted schedule is strictly forbidden.”, finished the police man proudly.

“Just fine him or something…”, mumbled Elsa tired, but just as she spoke the words, she recognized Remix, who seemed to have done the same thing.

“Remix…”, she said getting a grip on her voice and managing to make it sound professional again. “It seems you never learn.”, she added, piercing eyes boring into his.

“Oh, Ms. Herdevex, how nice to see you, what is such a beautiful lady doing in an ugly place like this?”, asked Remix, surprised and at the same time disappointed to see his childhood rival again after so many years. He had enough trouble already, so meeting this unbearable woman was the last thing he needed.

“Ms. Herdevex, is something wrong?”, asked one of the police men still holding Remix.

“I happen to work here, vandal!”, answered Elsa, obviously not to her mate’s question.

“I am a modern artist, check out my message!”, mocked Remix, as Elsa rolled her eyes. “Actually I wanted to schedule lodging a complaint against someone and I was invited to lodge the complaint next month, which is quite unbearable, given the gravity of the situation!”, continued Remix, talking much faster. “You won’t believe it when you hear it, so if you, or your mates, or anyone else, could just listen for a few minutes to what I have to say, it would mean the galaxy to… ah… the whole galaxy! So please!”

After a few seconds of intensely staring at him in disbelief, she waved to her mates, and said:

“Just fine him for vandalism and get this over with…”

But just as she turned around to head back to her office, Remix uttered what were galaxy-wide considered the magic words, the words which every authority was compelled to take seriously, this rule being part of the general line of conduct governing the way all the galactic authorities worked.

“It is related to the Earth Tragedy!”, he said loud and clear, at which point Elsa froze and a heavy silence filled the room. Elsa slowly turned back to face Remix.

“You are aware that pulling pranks on this theme attracts severe sanctions, including, but not limited to, from one month up to two years of jail?”, she asked Remix coldly.

“I am more aware than anyone in this room!”, answered Remix exasperated.

“You certainly don’t look so.”, said Elsa, voice full of tension.

“Look, I tried to schedule the lodging of a complaint against someone who wants to… do things… which would totally annihilate the memory of the Earth Tragedy! But the stupid Police only scheduled me next month and this… is really serious, it can’t wait until then! So if you, or anyone else…preferably someone else… could just hear me out!”, said Remix in a haste, suddenly looking more serious than seconds before. “Now, tell me, are you always ineffective and stupid like this, or only when it comes to solving serious issues?!”

“That would be 200 galactrians for insulting the Galactic Police, Remix.”, said Elsa coldly and unimpressed.

“Whaaat? But that wasn’t an insult, it was a description!”, said Remix in disbelief. “Look, just hear me out a few minutes, ok?”

After a few seconds’ pondering on what to do, she told her two mates to leave Remix alone, and, with the least desire to do so, invited Remix in her office.

“Why, thank you!”, exclaimed Remix.

He followed her inside her office.

“Dieeeee!”, he hissed in a demonic tone, just before he closed the door behind him, to the two police men who had been holding him moments ago and were now heading away. Elsa was making all efforts not to hit him in the head with whatever she found at her disposal.

They were now facing each other, Elsa behind her desk, Remix on a chair in front of her. Before hearing Remix out, she couldn’t help commuting her lap top so that its screen displayed the outer wall of the building Remix had just vandalized.

<All Cops are Bastards> was proudly displayed in large black letters on the whole side wall of the building. Elsa rolled her eyes and couldn’t help letting out a chuckle.

“It was the only way I could get in before the scheduling for lodging a complaint, sometime after the next Big Bang.”, Remix broke the silence.

“Ok, so what about the Earth Tragedy related event?”

Without saying a word, Remix started rummaging through his bag, found the papers printed with the transcript he found in his illegal journey and placed them carefully on Elsa’s desk.

She started skimming the transcript, her expression slowly turning from tired and irritated, to worried. After a few minutes, she raised her green eyes from the bundle of papers on her desk, facing Remix, who had been patiently waiting for her to finish.

“Remix, how did you get this?”

“Someone sent it to my inbox”, Remix lied, what was probably the most used lie suspects ever told the Police, but which the Police could only expose by searching the computer of the suspect, which, in Remix’s case was pretty hard.

“And I presume you don’t know the person who sent you the transcript, do you?”, asked Elsa in a bored tone.

“Nope.”, answered Remix cheerfully.

“Remix, look…”, said the Police Officer in a serious tone. “I’m not gonna lie to you.” She paused shortly, and then continued. “When you were involved in the incident with the merchant Sadix, I entered your space ship. The one you share with Vanko for job purposes. Are you aware that being in the entourage of a suspect, such as, in this case, Sadix, turns you into a suspect?”

Remix couldn’t believe what he heard. He suddenly felt exposed, knowing that, in one of his most vulnerable states, he had been seen by his childhood rival. But nevertheless, he continued playing along.

“A suspect for what? Drug dealing? Raping children? Liking goats? Vandalizing buildings?”

Elsa rolled her eyes in outrage.

“How come every time a galactic authority complained that someone hacked their data base, you were always around, in the same subsector of the galaxy with the said authority, at the same date of the complaint?”

“Coincidence. I hope you didn’t touch me while I was comatose.”

“How come you were found in the entourage of Sadix, who is well known among Police officers, as one of the merchants trading illegal goods?”

“The will of God”, said Remix undisturbed.

“Remix, this is serious. I suggest you be very careful with your future deeds. We are watching you. And don’t ever think I believe a word you say about an unknown person sending you transcripts online, which no one should have access to.”, concluded Elsa.

Remix couldn’t help but worrying whether he had been hiding his tracks right in his last blind journeys. What if he missed just a single footprint and the Police saw it? No. He was sure he did everything well. He must not let his guard down, not now.

“Look, I don’t care what you believe. Don’t you see that someone wants to bring the Dark Ages back? Is it really important, under these circumstances, who in the galaxy sent me the transcript?”

“We investigate every crime, Remix. Hacking, as well as tainting the memory of the Earth Tragedy.”, said Elsa, unmoved. After a few moments of silence, she asked:

“Have you tried sending this transcript to anyone? The galactivision channels, perhaps?”

“No. I don’t think the galactivision channels would take me seriously.”

“I wouldn’t blame them. It is hard enough for me to take you seriously, and I have been taught to take everything seriously. The only reason I have accepted to listen to you is that you mentioned the Earth Tragedy… And as you know, problems involving the memory of the Earth Tragedy have priority before almost anything else…”

“Tell me something”, said Remix in a low tone. “How come it takes so long for you to schedule the lodging of a complaint? A few months ago it used to only take a few days, not eons.”

Elsa breathed out slowly, as she preferred not to be reminded of what had been causing her so much distress over the last few months.

“Our funds have been diminished. Everything is slower now, solving complaints, printing documents… I swear, it is as if someone _wanted_ us to become inefficient!”, said Elsa hardly able to hide her anger.

“Have you tried… Talking to someone about it? Lodging a complaint or something…?”, inquired Remix.

“The heads of the Galactic Police said they received orders from high above and have to obey…It’s all we’ve got!”, answered Elsa thoughtfully.

Remix was suddenly taken aback by her answer. Orders from high above and having to obey them… It is what Horia had said about Ivanux receiving orders to remove the Earth Hour from the curriculum… And Remix had thought back then that Horia was not telling the whole truth and was only trying to defend Ivanux…Damn… He leaned against the back of the chair, with a lost look in his eyes.

“What’s the matter?”, asked Elsa aloud, tearing Remix out of his gloomy thoughts.

“Ah… Nothing. Nothing. Do you have a fire?”

“I don’t smoke. Remix, your transcript is really useful…”

“…But it lacks depth, I know…”

“…But… Oh cut the crap Remix, this is serious!”, exclaimed Elsa, hitting her desk with her fist, making Remix cease his mockery. “The thing is… I don’t have any names, except for Ame Richko, the governor of the Amereides planetary system. If the whole thing is true… “. She shook her head, gathering her thoughts. “I would have loved to have some names and addresses. I have no idea who the person saying all of this is and I don’t know who the other so called gentlemen are.”

“I can’t reply to an email from an unknown person, asking for more information, that would be impolite”, said Remix matter-of-factly.

“Ah, you are getting on my nerves seriously! I wasn’t insinuating anything, just… thinking out loud.”

“Can’t you investigate Richko’s entourage?”, asked Remix, lacking patience. “I’m sure you could find something! I mean, do something yourselves, too, don’t just expect random citizens from the galaxy to do your jobs!”

Elsa put her hand on the pile of papers containing the secret transcript, which wasn’t secret any more now, in an authoritative way, making Remix feel uneasy.

“It is just what I intend to do”, said Elsa expressionless. “Thank you for the information”, she hardly managed to add.

“It is my utmost pleasure to be of service to the one and only authority defending galactic peace and watching upon our wellbeing, as well as the wellbeing of the aliens of the…”

“Ah, shut up already, will you?!”. Elsa opened a drawer of her desk and picked out a small rectangular piece of navy blue plastic looking card. “My business card. In case any unknown person sends you anything else and you feel like sharing.”, said Elsa in a formal tone.

Without saying a word, Remix took the business card and held it in his hand at an angle of 90 degrees with the rays of light coming from the light generator on the ceiling. Under the light falling at this specific angle on a business card, the information contained therein would become visible; it was just a fancy way of manufacturing business cards. Remix could read:

“Elsa Herdevex – Junior Police Officer of the Galactic Police

Planet Memblex, city of Badang, Pa-Chau Road, Building 286.

Using peace to defend order.”

Remix searched in one of his pockets until he found his own business card, although business cards were something he disliked, as they seemed kind of cold. He handed her a similar card, but in black. She held it under the rays of light coming from the ceiling, like he did with her card just moments ago, but after a couple of seconds faced Remix with an annoyed look.

“Remix, there is nothing here!”

“It only reveals its secrets in the darkness”, grinned Remix.

Amazed at how immature – in her opinion – people can be, she opened a drawer and held Remix’s business card in it, at which point the revealed secrets shone in red letters:

“Remix – IT engineer, Gotta Fix’em All L.L.C.

Hacking is destiny. Just kidding.

Your sin is my command.

Now, with price reductions! For more information, please use the contact details below”

“You sure know how to make an impression”, said Elsa ironically, as she skimmed through Remix’s contact details.

“Have made a decent one until now”, replied Remix looking a bit offended.

“I’ll accompany you to the exit of the building, then. My schedule is totally full… An other day of extra hours I guess”, said Elsa, as she got up from her desk.

“That is really kind of you, but I know the way. But first I’m getting my graffiti spray back.”, answered Remix in a hurry, as he stood up.

“Don’t forget that you have to pay 200 galactrians fine for vandalism and 200 galactrians for insulting the Galactic Police.”

“You can’t be serious…”, Remix looked towards the ceiling dramatically.

“I am always serious, Remix…”

“…I feel sorry to hear that…”

“And take care”, she added, as they departed, as if meaning more than the simple wish that someone would just take care of themselves.

Remix left the Galactic Police headquarters and headed home. He had half a day of flying before reaching his apartment. Hopefully enough time to think about what to do next.

***

It was evening on the asteroid where Remix and Vanko shared their rented apartment. The Mechtonian asteroid was quite an innovation. A desolate grey stone at its origin, the refugees from Earth transformed it not only into a life sustaining environment, but also into a pleasant home for many. The asteroid was mostly inhabited by people who worked on space ships and thus were never home, and this is why, during the week, Mechtonian looked like a pretty, but abandoned garden. But in the weekends it became a crowded little celestial body, vibrating with the energy of the many eager to return home after a hard week.

Remix was heading to the Green Place, which was the largest and most beautiful park on the whole of Mechtonian, where he would meet Vanko. Now, he would tell Vanko everything. What he discovered in the hidden layers of the galactinet, during one of his trips in the darkness. His discussion with Elsa Herdevex. His former supposition, which had turned into a certainty, that there was indeed something wrong in the galaxy, that some people were eager to get a hold on power and turn the homes of everyone into possible copies of the Earth Tragedy.

As he was walking along a narrow alley heading towards one of the entrances to the Green Place, he had a sudden feeling of being watched. After looking around, he saw a mini camera, fixed on the top of a street lamp, its round infrared eye the size of a finger nail, pointed straight at him.

*What the hell*, he freaked out. Mounting street cameras to spy on people under the pretext of “ensuring security”, was such a long ago forgotten practice. It belonged to the old days and he never thought it would be resuscitated. But he had more important things to do, so he just showed the middle finger to the camera and headed towards the park entrance.

Vanko was sitting on the grass, near the edge of a lake. Relieved, Remix laid down near him and after a short small talk, he dived into the problem.

“Vanko… You know two weeks ago? When I told you I was gone to see my girlfriend?”

“You broke up, or what…In this case we should have gone to a bar, not to a park”, answered Vanko ildly.

“No no it’s nothing like that. I lied. I actually went to the Galactic Police.”

“You untrustworthy liar”, mocked Vanko. “They caught you, or what…?”

“Close enough, but not deadly close.”

And then he told Vanko everything. What he found during one of his last illegal trips. The planetary authorities confiscating the mentally gifted children, seeing them as a potential threat. The removal of the Earth Hour. The sickening thought of hunting down organ donors, just so that the ones who would rule the galaxy could lengthen their lives. The long term plan. Ame Richko’s name written on a virtual wall, in 0 and 1 code, obviously involved in the whole affair. How he entered the building of the Galactic Police and what he revealed to the Police. As he finished, he sprawled on the grass, feeling tired all of a sudden, while Vanko was staring at the horizon in disbelief. Vanko wanted to believe Remix, but the things his friend had just described were too horrible even for a dystopian novel.

“You are serious about the whole thing…”, Vanko managed to utter.

“It is happening, ok? I’m not imagining it.”, answered Remix, somewhat absentminded, staring at the sky which was now turning a deep pink-purple.

“And you wanna know another weird thing?”, he added after a pause. “Elsa Herdevex said that the funds of the Galactic Police have been diminished, as if someone wanted things to go wrong. And when they complained to the heads, they said they received orders from high above and had to obey. Just like Horia said Ivanux did, with the removal of the Earth Hour and everything… And by the way, you didn’t tell me that Elsa Herdevex entered The Howling Wolf after the Police shot me.”, Remix suddenly leaned on his elbow, looking straight at Vanko.

“I thought the name wasn’t important. You know her or something…?”, enquired Vanko.

“Yeah… back on Arnatown… you know the gang I was part of was always teased by some idiots and she happened to be among them. And now, surprise! She is a police woman and enters our ship while I am dying! Maybe she was the one who shot me!”, Remix hit the grass with his fist, suddenly annoyed.

“Oh, that gang… I always told you to stay away from those gangs, since they were nothing but a waste of time. Oh, well.”

They sat on the grass in silence for a moment, both of them gathering their thoughts. They were engulfed by the constant babbling and laughter of the people spending a relaxing evening in the Green Place, which was usually a pleasant thing, but now it was slightly irritating for both of them.

“And… what do you intend to do?”, Vanko broke the silence.

“I don’t know…”, and Remix’s thoughts suddenly wandered towards Horia, who was a victim of the whole plan. All that Remix felt was the guilt caused by failing to escape with Horia two years ago.

“Remix.” Proclaimed Vanko, placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder, suspecting what Remix was thinking of at the moment. “I know it is hard, but you have to reveal these things somehow.”

“Like how, driving a space ship throughout the galaxy, with the message <Hey, the New Galactic Order is out to get you! Be very afraid!> written on it?!”

“Like… maybe infiltrate into a galactivision channel or a galactic radio and… I don’t know… disclose everything?”

Remix jumped on his feet.

“Wait a second, Vanko…”, he said with a trembling voice. “You know I’m not that kind of person! I like anonymity!”

“Anonymity is the last thing you have to worry about!”, exclaimed Vanko, now standing up as well. “With the help of Masks, everyone can be a moderator, while still remaining anonymous!”

“Oh, the Masks...”

In these evolved times, everyone could indeed become moderator of a galactivision broadcast, while still keeping their anonymity and thus preserving their private life. Since the galactivision wasn’t the cheap circus that television was during the Dark Ages, galactivision moderators were only hired for what they had to say and what useful information they could provide. The looks, the constant race for a high rating and the disgusting scandals people were bombed with back in the days of the Earth television didn’t matter anymore. And thus, a moderator who wanted to appear on galactivision while still keeping their private life intact was free to choose a Mask, which was a fake appearance and a fake voice. The words still belonged to the moderator, but no one could find out what the moderator’s true identity was. Some chose to appear on screen as humans, but with a totally different look than their real look, while others even went for the bodies of other races populating the galaxy, or even the bodies of animals.

“Yes, a Mask would be of great help, but… Even if I had like a broadcast or something…what would it be about? I never had anything to do with these things, you know I’m into totally different stuff and I doubt I would manage”, muttered Remix.

“Like… ah… esoteric stuff? You were really interested in these things, remember?”, Vanko tried desperately to provide a useful idea that they could cling to. “Spiritism, fortune telling and that kind of thing. I think it would be pretty successful to be honest.”

Remix let himself fall on the grass, head in his hands and eyes closed.

“Ah, Remix, are you alright?”

Remix couldn’t help being invaded by the darkest memory in his life. When he and Horia were placed in the orphanage on Arnakad, right after their parents died, he drew consolation from the esoteric arts, as a form of escaping reality. He became very interested in all things unexplainable, so, even after he got over his parents’ death, he continued his enquiries about the unexplained. On the night when he tried to escape with Horia, he asked the cards whether his attempt would be successful. Regardless of the answer of the reading, he was determined to do the same thing, but still…An other opinion wouldn’t harm, even if it came from unknown entities. And the result of the reading was very positive. Unfortunately unlike reality. After that, he ceased having anything to do with anything esoteric. He gave that up, never to return to those activities again. And now, Vanko was suggesting he would start again, as if nothing happened.

The memory was too painful and he just wanted to run away somewhere he could be alone and cry. He lit a cigarette instead.

“Remix…”, Vanko tried again. “I know this is hard. But I think it is the only way to send your message. I mean, I can’t find any better way.”, he concluded.

“Yeah, maybe…”, whispered Remix. “I have to think about it. Ahhh, damn it!”, he hit himself in the head with his cigarettes pack.

“If I can help in any way…”, Vanko dared.

“Let’s swim in the lake.”, Remix answered spontaneously and totally out of context, waving towards the lake beside them, surprising Vanko.

Swimming was allowed in the lake, and at every hour of the day, there was always someone having fun in the water.

“Yeah…ok. I would go for a swim right now, too.”, answered Vanko, and his clothes suddenly vanished the moment he mentally sent the corresponding command to his Portable Wardrobe. He ran towards the lake and jumped with a huge splash, while Remix was quickly getting undressed the in the classic way, throwing his clothes on the grass around him.

“Oh wait for the old school people, will you?!”

***

The office of Heralex Karpendex, head of Phylos 1, one of the galactivision channels of the galaxy was a mess. Piles of papers, books and files were almost touching the ceiling and, even though the hour was late, the office was dwelling in darkness, because of the electricity savings Heralex needed to do in order to keep his galactivision channel functioning.

Behind his desk, Heralex was wondering where he went wrong. He was sure that all the broadcasts of Phylos 1 were high quality content. They were approved by him, after all. He couldn’t tell the point in time when his situation started deteriorating. Small problems somehow turned into issues almost impossible to solve.

Debts were piling up faster than his heart beats, in the moments he felt too anxious to even think of solutions. He picked up an invoice at random and pressed his fingers on his temples as he skimmed through it. His focus was suddenly interrupted, as one of the piles of documents fell on the floor with a disturbing thud.

“Oh, not now, Fuzzles…”, he whispered in a tired tone to a black and white cat, apparently the culprit.

The cat stared at him with large eyes, yearning for attention.

“Oh, you know I can’t be mad at you”, said Heralex, as he went to pick up the cat and returned to his desk with the furball in his arms.

Yes, it is true that two years ago, some strange individuals came to his office and made him what they described as an “offer”. An offer for an afterlife in hell, maybe.

They wanted to offer Phylos 1 a huge amount of money in exchange for some services. What Phylos 1 had to do, was to carry out campaigns promoting the law which compelled the families of gifted children to say goodbye to their offsprings and enroll them in those special education centers. Of course he would never approve of that. They also wanted Phylos 1 to broadcast some material about the benefits of removing the Earth Hour from the curriculum of the schools throughout the galaxy. Their argument was that the Earth Hour was something related to an ancient event. And wasn’t it useless to talk of the distant past in a modern galaxy like ours?

Heralex refused.

“But everyone is doing it. Talk to the heads of the other galactivision channels, if you don’t trust us”, one of the visitors had said, with sparkling eyes.

“But I am not everyone. I am just one.”, Heralex had answered back then.

“Oh, not now, Twinkles!”, said Heralex in an exasperated tone, as an other cat attempted to take a seat in his lap. “You know I can’t hold two of you at the same time, can’t you see how crowded this place is?”

At which point, Twinkles discovered a pen on Heralex’s desk and started playing with it, until the newly discovered toy fell on the ground, hitting an other pile of documents which crashed on the floor.

“Oh, how will I make order in this mess, if you guys keep doing this?”, said the chief of Phylos 1, with love in his voice.

The visitors who had made the offer left Heralex’s office, but not before uttering a few words, which could have been interpreted as a threat.

“We’ll see how things go with Phylos 1… hopefully not downwards…”

A short while after that event, Phylos 1 started having small financial problems, which turned into big financial problems, like a snowball falling down a valley covered with snow.

But not all things easy are good, just like not all things hard are bad, thought Heralex to himself. He just needed a new broadcast, original enough to make Phylos 1 gain more money, so that Heralex could pay at least a part of his debts.

Just as he was having these thoughts, the telephone rang. Heralex answered.

“Hello?”   “Oh, Mr. Darth Min… I mean Mr. Lud Max. How nice to hear you again.”   “Yes, I know I haven’t paid the rent for the Phylos 1 studios for three months.”   “Enforcement retrieval of Phylos 1 possessions…”   “This can’t be serious…”   “All I ask is a few months…”   “Er, how many? Maybe two or three.”   “Yes, I am aware of that”   “Nice talking to you.”   “Have a nice day, too.”

Oh, gods of the galaxy! But Heralex was already used to the Darth Ministrator’s phone calls, constantly reminding him of the money he owed to the Galactistrate Services.

But nothing is lost until _you_ are lost, isn’t it right, Heralex thought to himself. And he wasn’t lost, he could feel it. All he needed was a new idea, a new concept. His train of thoughts was again broken, this time by the sound of a flower pot hitting the floor and turning into splinters.

“Oh, stop it you three, don’t make me come after you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made some references in the story and I think they need explaining. Remix’s hacker nickname is the White Wolf. I don’t know if anyone knows this, but the name of Romania before the Roman Empire came was Dacia. And the white wolf was a sacred animal to the Dacians - the ancestors of the Romanians.
> 
> Remix and Vanko’s ship is called The Howling Wolf. And the ensign of the Dacian troops as they went to war was the Dacian Draco: an item with the form of a dragon with a wolf head. The riders held the Draco high in the air and due to its hollow body, it made a shrill sound. And the Dacian Draco is what I had in mind when thinking about a name for Remix and Vanko’s ship.
> 
> I often come across the message All Cops are Bastards or ACAB in my neighborhood, which inspired me to write the graffiti part.
> 
> And yeah, Remix has a girlfriend :) Maybe the anthropomorphic personification of the Black Sea, I have no idea, just wanted to give him a girlfriend.
> 
> ~Inspirations~  
> I haven’t made up the names Badang and Pa-Chau on Elsa’s business card. A friend of mine came up with those, but in a totally different context, we were trying to invent warcries just for fun.
> 
> The name of Remix and Vanko’s employer, Gotta Fix’em All L.L.C. is inspired by the Pokemon catchphrase Gotta Catch’em All!
> 
> The name of the park on the Mechtonian asteroid, the Green Place, is a reference to a fictional place in the movie Mad Max: Fury Road. Such a lovely movie!
> 
> Here is something funny I had in mind when writing this chapter. Maybe, during the Earth Tragedy, all the nations died. And 1000 years in the future, when this story takes place, they chose to reincarnate as normal humans around the same time, to finish their unfinished business and balance their karmas. They have the same personalities and look the same or almost the same, but they are humans. It is not necessarily a headcanon for this story, just a thought I had.
> 
> Aaaand I have added APH Greece, too. Under the name of Heralex Karpendex.
> 
> Again i posted this chapter earlier than i thought i would. I had a lot of inspiration and things went fast. The next chapter will probably be posted in August. If not August, then September. The next chapter will be shorter and I think the last one will be long(ish), if I don’t actually decide to split it into two parts.


	6. An other suspect

The front yard of one of the largest commercial centers of Eladia, the planet where the bankrupt galactivision channel Phylos 1 was broadcasting from, was a very pleasant place, especially in the evenings. The words “commercial center” usually make one think of a large intimidating building made of glass, where noisy people and also members of other races spend feverish days looking for what they want, or for what they think they want.

But this wasn’t the case for _this_ particular commercial center. This time, the notion described tidy rows of small shacks made of wood, osier willow or bamboo, placed at considerable distances from one another, along which relaxed persons and non-persons were strolling, some of them with a couple of bags in their hands, or tentacles, it depends, but never more than they could carry.

Elsa Herdevex was sitting on a bench in the yard, at the shade of an orange tree, contemplating the place, wishing she could spend more time in places like this. A large black dog, probably a Rotweiller, was idly lying at her feet. It was one of the dogs of the Galactic Police and it also happened to be one of her favorite dogs.

Feeling slightly nervous all of a sudden, she looked at her watch. *That idiot had better not be late*, she thought to herself. She spent four hours in a space ship just to get here and meet Remix, who apparently had something of extreme importance to communicate her.

He told her he had received additional information about the New Galactic Order, information too sensible to be sent in an e-mail or spoken on the phone. *This had better be serious*, she thought to herself. If what Remix told her was true, then the Galactic Police would soon be in the possession of the real names, along with the corresponding addresses of the “gentlemen” directly involved in the plan of the New Galactic Order.

Of course she still didn’t believe that an anonymous person, or non-person even, was sending secret information to Remix’s inbox. But as much as the Police spied on Remix’s computer, they couldn’t find anything. *Damn hacker!*, she rendered consumptive. *But we’ll get you. Don’t worry about that.*

What she also couldn’t believe, but was apparently true, was the other thing Remix told her when he called her a few days ago to schedule this meeting with her. He was apparently not living on Mechtonian anymore. He moved to Eladia and convinced the chief of Phylos 1 to let him have his own broadcast about… esoteric stuff, of course, shielded by a Mask and under a false name. *A hacker always wants to be anonymous, don’t they?*, thought Elsa. He didn’t hide the fact that his plan was to disclose the secret information he owned, after he gained a sufficiently large audience. *I can’t stop wondering what your Mask will be… I hope I don’t become a fan…*, she pondered half serious, half joking. Just as she was having this thought, her black Rotweiller suddenly jumped on his four legs, eyes darting towards a young man, dressed in a loose white shirt, headphones on his ears, coming towards Elsa.

Elsa tightened the grip of the leash and stood up, just as Remix greeted.

“’Sup?”, he smiled, but took one step back, as he noticed that the dog’s muzzle was pointing at his abdomen. “Oh, you brought a hellhound, too.”

“Good evening, Remix.”, she said, wondering why her dog became so nervous. It was used to having lots of people around, so its behavior was quite strange. “How’s it going? I guess it’s hard to start a new job, in a totally different field all of a sudden”. She was trying to be open and friendly, in the hopes that Remix would reveal as much information as possible.

“Yeah… I am here, but already can’t wait to return to my old normal life, once I finish what I came here for. I only hope it won’t last more than a year or so until I get a sufficiently large audience to listen to what I have to disclose”, answered Remix thoughtfully.

“Well, good luck then.”

The dog calmed down a bit, so she could sit down on the bench, holding the leash a bit looser. Remix sat down near her.

“Thanks… I hope it goes well.”

“Me too… So… what will your Mask be? Since you want to remain anonymous and all…”

“Ah, surprise! Just watch the broadcast, ok? It’s called <The Gate to the Unknown>”, Remix said in an excited tone, but nevertheless giving away the fact that he was very nervous and insecure, due to the fact that working in the galactic media wasn’t what he was meant to do in life.

“Don’t worry.”, Elsa tried to encourage him. “I think you’ll do great.” She hated to admit it, but she always thought he had a sort of charismatic way of behaving. “But I don’t get it, why does Blunticelle feel so nervous around you?! He’s so used to having lots of people around!”

“Blunti…that’s its name?” Remix could barely refrain from laughing. “It’s… a nice name.”

Elsa rolled her eyes, suddenly trying to refrain from laughing herself.

“Yeah, well someone else named it, ok?”

“It must be because of all the cats in the studio on Phylos 1… You should see it, it’s full of cats! I think Heralex keeps at least one hundred… And the hellhound just sensed their smells or something”

“I see…Oh, but it’s not a hellhound!”, she said with a loving voice, as she petted the beast on its head. “It is actually so tame, isn’t it right, Blunticelle”, and the dog made a few whining noises, as Elsa kept petting it on the head.

After a few seconds of silence, she asked:

“So… you said you have information about who the people behind the horrible plan are?”, she asked matter-of-factly.

“Well… I think you should be extremely calm.”, said Remix in an uneasy tone, feeling that Elsa would soon become mad.

“Don’t worry, Remix. You can trust us. It’s why you called me, isn’t it? Now tell me about the names you have.”, she said in a calm tone.

“Actually…”, Remix braced himself. “I lied”, he said hastily. “I didn’t call you about that, the truth is I have neither names, nor addresses.”

“What?!”, Elsa asked in a shrill tone, her attitude suddenly turning 180 degrees, making Remix slightly back away from her. “What in the galaxy did you call me here for then?!”, she almost yelled. “I spent four hours onboard just to get here, in the hope that you could provide some useful information, as you said! Do you think I don’t have anything better to do?!”

At which point Blunticelle got up on his legs and started growling at Remix, determining Elsa to also stand up, so she could better get a tight grip on the leash, stopping the animal from possibly attacking Remix, although it was the thing she least wanted to do at the moment.

“Actually, I _did_ provide you with useful information, which you would have probably never obtained otherwise.”, Remix answered, trying to control his voice, her anger filling him with anxiety, as he also stood up, ready to run away in case the dog managed to free itself from Elsa’s grip.

“Remix, this is 300 galactrians for wasting the time of a member of the Galactic Police with unrealistic problems”, she said, as cold as ice, totally ignoring Remix’s remark.

Blunticelle barked a few times, making Remix shudder.

“Whaaat? But it is late evening, you are outside the working hours!”, Remix exclaimed, leaning on the back of the bench, feeling he would faint if the dog kept barking like that.

“Evening shift”, answered Elsa unmoved.

“Oh, I thought you were too high ranking for evening shifts and only send your talking wardrobes in the evenings to do whatever talking wardrobes do…”

“Remix, is there something else you have to say?”, Elsa interrupted him abruptly. “Or can I leave now? You will receive the fine in your Personal Post Cubicle from your new apartment here on Eladia.”, she added, finally managing to get a firmer grip on the leash, making the dog calm down a bit, or at least stop barking.

“Jesus, why did you take the hellhound with you?!”, asked Remix outraged. “Oh, don’t worry, it’s so tame”, he imitated Elsa’s remark from just moments ago. “Oh, Blunticelle, you’re not allowed to eat persons, put that arm down, look at your muzzle, you’re such a messy eater, oh, Sir, I’m sorry, it just wants to play, no reason to be scared”, he continued his mockery.

Elsa was outraged. She closed her eyes, as if counting to ten in her mind, clenched the fist which wasn’t holding the leash, and said:

“Remix, I am out of here.”

But just as she turned to leave, Remix jumped in front of her, blocking her way, which caused Blunticelle to growl at him again.

“Wait!”, he uttered. “I _did_ want to tell you something!”, he said in a desperate tone, looking serious all of a sudden.

Elsa froze, as she didn’t know what to do.

“Can you just sit down for five minutes? Please? This is just as important as the names and addresses would have been. Only… It is more important to _me_ , actually.”, he smiled in a disturbing way, in the same way troubled people smile when they try to hide inner feelings, which aren’t too positive.

Elsa noticed his expression suddenly changing, and wondered if he was serious or would just mock her all of a sudden again. She breathed out slowly, and sat down without a word, at which point Remix did the same.

Remix took a moment to rethink his words in his head and then uttered, hesitantly at first, but then letting the words out as if they were debris someone wanted to get rid of:

“I hate doing this… But I can’t ask anyone else to help me with this… Vanko is busy, I am stuck on Eladia for the next one or two years… And you know Eladia is far away from Phyride… And… When I disclose the secrets during my broadcast on Phylos 1, maybe in a year’s time or so…I might turn into a target for them. And I really don’t mind this, I couldn’t care less what happens to me, after all, I screwed up one time, so I guess whatever happens is only what I deserve…But…whoever is so sick to want to ruin our galaxy, is surely sick enough to eliminate the ones opposing them… _and_ … go after their loved ones, too. So…What I wanted to ask you was… When the time comes and I will disclose the plan of the New Galactic Order live, can I ask you to keep an eye on Horia? I will let you know when the disclosure moment occurs one or two month before. So… After I announce you about it, will you start keeping an eye on Horia? Maybe, send one or two of your people to keep an eye on the center or something…He is all I have.”

And he was done. He was leaning on the back of the bench, feeling relieved all of a sudden. He told her what he wanted to. Even if she refused, he knew he did what he had to do. After all, it would have been too naïve of him to think that he would be able to protect Horia all by himself, if the New Galactic Order started to go not only after the opponents, but also after their loved ones.

Elsa thought about what she heard for a couple of seconds. Deep down inside, she was moved and she felt sorry for being so harsh with Remix just moments ago.

“Remix…Yes. I mean… the answer is yes. I know what it’s like to love somebody with all your heart. So yes, I’ll help.”, she said, in a way lighter tone than her tone from just moments before.

Remix’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“Thank you! Thank you so much! You have no idea what that means to me! Oh, God… I just want to hug you right now, isn’t it weird?”, Remix let his joy out.

“Remix, it is my duty to defend the threatened, so you don’t have to thank me. We’ll make sure Horia is safe.”

“Oh, and another thing…”, added Remix, as if wanting to disclose a much guarded ancient secret. “Please make sure Horia doesn’t notice that you keep an eye on him, ok? He is really intelligent, you know, and he notices things, and he wouldn’t like knowing that someone is watching him, ok?” And then he thought: *And confiscate his cigarettes, will you?!*

“No worries, Remix, we are professionals!”, Elsa reassured him.

“Oh, and…if your hackers discover anything new…”

“We don’t have hackers in the Galactic Police, Remix!”, Elsa interrupted him, all of a sudden outraged again at his – in her opinion – silly behavior.

“Right, you only have IT engineers… So, if your IT engineers discover anything new, could you send me what they find out, so I can broadcast these things live?”, he asked full of hope.

Elsa breathed out slowly and then replied:

“Yes… We will send you what we find, if we find anything, ok? And… Remix, you _idiot_ , what are you doing, you animal?!”, she yelled at him, as she noticed what he was trying to do, while she wasn’t paying attention to his right hand: he had been burning the tips of Blunticelle’s fur with his lighter, for the last couple of seconds, while the dog was lying on the ground between them.

Remix was laughing wildly.

“Oh, you are so immature…”, Elsa said, hardly being able to believe what Remix had been doing.

“Ahaha… But, look at him”, Remix managed to say in his laughter attack. “I mean the darker tones on the tips look so good on it, they match the surrounding tones, I mean, just look…Ahaha!”

“Remix…” She rolled her eyes and stood up to leave. “I have to go now. But we could have talked on the phone or on e-mail, you know. There was no need to call me here…”

“It wouldn’t have been safe”, Remix contradicted her, his laughter attack now being over. “What if they listen to our phone calls or read our e-mails? You never know.”

“Don’t be paranoid, no one would do this…”, she said thoughtfully. But she said it mostly to reassure herself. Because, deep down inside, she didn’t believe her words either.

***

**_After 6 months_ **

Living a life consisting of things which you know you aren’t in fact meant to do isn’t easy. And it wasn’t easy for Remix, even though Heralex turned out to be quite a nice boss, giving Remix all the help he needed in order to do his job.

The only part which Remix enjoyed doing was the part with programming the Mask, so that it followed Remix’s movements and said the same words Remix said, only in a different voice. This was the purpose of a Mask, anyway. And given the poor financial state of Phylos 1, the galactivision channel couldn’t afford to pay for IT engineers to program Masks, so the moderators who wanted to use Masks had to do their own programming.

Remix found relief and pleasure in programming his own Mask and found it funny to imagine what people were thinking when they saw a little grey alien on screen, but talking with the voice and in a language of humans. The little greys… the alien race which used to perform most of the abductions back when humanity only lived on one planet. Back in the Dark Ages there were countless of reports every year of people claiming to have been abducted by this weird alien race. And of course, the governments would ignore all the reports, making everyone believe the abductees were crazy. And when you think that now the little greys was one of the alien races humanity shared the galaxy with…

The good part was that in only 6 months, Remix managed to gain a significant rating, which also made Heralex very happy, up to the point where he was convinced he could afford adopting an other 20 cats, not to mention he could pay a small part of his debts, too. If things went on like this, in an year’s time, Remix would have a sufficient audience in order to reveal the secrets of the forbidden transcript, so that his message would reach enough people in order to possibly make a change and make people realize that there was indeed a threat to the peace and harmony which humanity obtained after so much struggle and sacrifice. It seemed that there were more people interested in the paranormal, esoteric arts and natural therapies than Remix had thought when first starting his broadcast. Many people were taking him seriously, many weren’t. But the general trend was good and it made Remix happy to think that in one year’s time, after the revelation is made, he would go back to his normal, but entriguing life, hopefully with Horia this time.

Parting company with Vanko had been painful. After all, they had spent almost four years working in The Howling Wolf, having fun, while also developing the skills which turned them from unexperienced teenagers into experts. Those had been a few happy years, full of fulfillments, small quarrels, good and bad jokes, running away from the Ministrator, getting drunk due to bad memories and discovering new places.

“I’m sorry to see you leave, man.”, Vanko had said from the gateway of The Howling Wolf. “I don’t know how I’ll do things without you and if I get along with the new mate the company will assign me.”, he added, trying not to give his feelings away.

“I’ll be back”, Remix had answered back then, also trying to hide away his sadness and fear of the new. “Hopefully next year we’ll be riding The Howling Wolf again, solving the issues of some and causing trouble to others!”, he added in an attempt to lighten up the atmosphere.

“You can’t drive a space ship without destroying half of the galaxy and I can’t fix software issues without ruining half of the galactic computers systems, so I hope both of us manage.”, Vanko added.

“Don’t worry. They’ll send you a new mate to help you. And I won’t be needing to drive space ships much where I go.”

The memory of parting company with Vanko was sometimes awakening in Remix’s mind, motivating him to do his best in order to win more audience as fast as he could, so he could be done with this as soon as possible. And if his disclosure wouldn’t have the desired effect, and people still wouldn’t realize the threat… _and_ if the law confiscating the mentally gifted wouldn’t be abrogated… then, at least he knew he did everything he could.

These thoughts were running through Remix’s mind before the beginning of a new edition. But in less than an hour he was in the studio, demonstrating how sometimes, the ascendant has a stronger impact on one’s personality than the zodiac sign. But just as he was getting to the most interesting part, his cell phone rang.

“And, you see… Oh, darn, my cell phone is ringing…”, at which point he picked up his cell phone from a table in the studio, causing Heralex, who was supervising the broadcast from an other room in the building, to almost have a heart attack. Heralex didn’t know what Remix was thinking at that precise moment, but it wasn’t in his nature to panic. So he waited instead.

“I am so sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but this is important, I have to answer.”

And so he did.

“Hello? Oh, yes!” , and with the click of a button on the little console near him, console which helped moderators introduce all sorts of effects on screen at certain points during their broadcasts, the person on the phone with Remix was suddenly live, without even knowing it.

“This is Lud Max, from the Galactistrate Service speaking.”, said the voice on the phone, making many of those people watching Remix’s broadcast at that time, start throwing all sorts of items found at hand into their galactivision sets. “Do I have the honor to speak with Mr. Remix?”, the Ministrator asked.

*Oh… my… gods…*, Heralex thought, as he was carefully supervising the edition, *this had better be good!*

“I’d rather you didn’t mention my name just now, but yes. How can I help you? Perhaps a reading? Or do you want to know the influence of your ascendant on your personality and behavior, which I am sure will reveal you interesting things…”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, Mr. Remix”, the Ministrator interrupted Remix, not having the faintest idea that he was live. “I called to remind you that you haven’t paid the rent for the apartment on planet Eladia you currently live in for two months. And, as you may know, in exactly three days from now, you have to pay the rent for both of the two months, or else a fine of 10% of the total rent will be added to the total sum you have to pay.”, the Ministrator continued on a professional tone.

Heralex, staring at a monitor in the supervising room, wasn’t sure this would turn out well. This small moment could mean a total success, or a total failure. But he smiled to himself thinking about the reactions of the audience of the broadcast, who were also facing the same problem as Remix.

“I don’t think this is the right time to talk about this, Mr. Max. But we can talk about other things, such as the abductions on…”

“Mr. Remix, I know what you are trying to do, and it has no effect on me, trust me.”, the Ministrator interrupted Remix again, still having no idea that thousands of people were listening to him. This time he talked in a slightly irritated tone, which made Remix smile to himself, knowing that this was going in the right direction. “I am trying to find the best solution for you, but it seems you are the one putting yourself in difficulties.”

“Oh, no, Mr. Max, I am not putting myself in difficulties, it’s the Universe that does that. And I am sure you don’t know what the best solution for me is.”, Remix added in a firm tone.

“I am trying to provide the best solution for you”, the Ministrator repeated, “so I would highly appreciate it if you listened to the financial plan I am recommending you.”

“But how can you know what the best solution for me is?”, asked Remix, pretending to be surprised. “Did you enter my head? Did you see through my soul? Did you make my astrologic birth chart? Did you…?”

“Mr. Remix, this is not getting anywhere.”, the Ministrator interrupted Remix for the third time, this time with obvious annoyance in his voice. “For the last time, what I am trying to suggest, on behalf of the Galactistrate Service, is the most decent solution for both parties…”

“No, Mr. Max, you don’t understand.”, Remix uttered in a very calm tone, which was getting the Ministrator on his nerves and making Heralex jubilate in the supervising room. “You can’t possibly know what the best, or most decent, or how-ever-you-want-to-put-it solution is. And you want to know why?”

Everyone held their breath – Remix’s beloved audience, the chief of Phylos 1, who was now holding a cat in his arms to release the anxiety a bit and the Ministrator.

“You can’t know the best solution for my issue, because you don’t know what the other countless of possible solutions are. You regard your solution as the best, because it is the only one you know. Maybe you have learned, or read about other possible solutions, but you never had them in your head, nor have you intended to apply them, so basically you haven’t _lived_ them, so you don’t _know_ them. So, how can you say that your solution is the best, when it is in fact the only one you know? Tell me something…”

“Mr. Remix…”

“No! Just answer this question!”, Remix made the Ministrator shut up, which caused Remix’s audience to open up bottles of Champaign in front of their galactivision sets, and Heralex to almost leave his body. “If you were to choose your favorite fruit, out of, let’s say 10 options… But you only got to taste one type of a fruit, while the others were only being described to you… Would you be able to tell, which one you liked best?”

A few seconds of silence followed, ended by the Ministrator’s irritated voice.

“Mr. Remix, I will get back to you soon. It is clear to me that this is not the right moment. You clearly… took something. But you will never solve your problems if you keep running away from them. They will only get worse.”, the Ministrator concluded, in a slightly menacing tone.

At which point, Remix, addressed his audience a rhetorical question, ignoring the Ministrator’s reply:

“Ladies and gentlemen, do you see what I have to go through?! I have been followed by the Galactistrate Services ships all over the place and been harassed with phone calls. Do you think the Universe is just?...Well, it actually _is_ just! The Universe is nothing than a mirror of ourselves, and if I have to go through this, it means I have caused trouble to someone at some point in life, and it’s all coming back to me. And I have no problem with that. But…”, and then he addressed the Ministrator “at some point, what you do will come back to you. The way you harass people, without trying to understand the cause of their problems. It will all come back, and it will not be nice. It’s all I had to say.”, Remix concluded.

The Darth Ministrator was angry, as he wasn’t used to being put in unexpected spontaneous situations. And he didn’t know who the “ladies and gentlemen” Remix was addressing were, but he suspected his client was either drunk, or a bit high. So, he decided to end the conversation and come back another time, maybe a bit more menacing.

“Mr. Remix, this clearly wasn’t the right time for this conversation.”, the Ministrator said in a cold tone. “We will continue another time, and hopefully you won’t forget to pay your rent to the Galactistrate Services. I hope you have a nice day. Goodbye.”, and then he hung up.

After the edition, there was reason to celebrate in the Phylos 1 building. The unexpected dialog with the person who didn’t even know was live turned out to be a success. In the middle of the dialog, the rating reached an unexpected peak, and this could only mean one thing: more cats.

Heralex was very happy, but Remix was feeling tired and couldn’t wait to go back to his apartment.

As he got to his apartment, he threw himself on the bed, but just as he almost fell asleep, his cell phone rang.

*I am not answering him this time…*, he thought, and waited until the phone stopped ringing. *Yeah… go piss off someone else…*. But just as he was ready to throw the cell phone somewhere farther away from him, it rang again. *What the fuuuck!?*, he thought outraged, but as he looked at the screen, he instantly felt bad for not answering the first time.

“Oh, hi Horia! What’s up?”

“Hi, brother. I wanted to tell you something.”, Horia said, in a slightly tired voice, which made Remix worry.

“Sure. But, it’s late you should be sleeping now. Go to sleep, ok? Without smoking.”

“Brother, what are you up to?”, Horia asked abruptly, this time in a tone which sounded not only tired, but also worried.

“What do you mean?”, asked Remix, taken by surprise.

“The broadcast and all”, Horia answered in a serious tone. “You are hiding something”, he proclaimed.

Remix suddenly got nervous. He didn’t reveal his plan to Horia, Horia being in fact one of the thousands of victims of the New Galactic Order. And he never wanted Horia to ever suspect anything.

“You know I’m basically broke, ok? I do this for money. Just a few months and it will be over, ok? You know my situation well.”

“Oh, c’mon, brother, you are not _that_ broke. And you never cared about money that much, at least not enough to do stuff which you never wanted to do... You are after something.”

*Shit! I can’t hide anything from you, can I?*, Remix thought to himself.

“Look… you will understand everything. Pretty soon. I can’t tell you more right now, it… involves financial curves and currencies and stuff…”

“Yeah, right…”, Horia replied, and Remix could almost see his little brother light years away, lying on the bed, rolling his eyes in disbelief.

“It’s late, why don’t we talk about this another time? I can’t think straight right now.”

“Whatever you say.”, Horia answered in a much more relieved way than he was talking just a moment before. “Take care.”

“And you take care. Now go to sleep, ok?”

“Ok, Remix. I love you. Stay out of trouble, ok?”

*God, why are you talking like an adult all of a sudden?!*, Remix thought in distress.

“I love you too! And please… just stop worrying, everything is fine.”

After the conversation ended, Remix stared at the cell phone for a few moments, feeling unexpectedly angry. Then he threw the cell phone into the farthest wall of the room.

***

The trouble with mentally gifted children, and adults as well, is that they are… troubled. Things which are of no interest at all for the others, are true passions, or can even become obsessions, for the mentally gifted.

It was Friday night on Phyride, and a certain mentally gifted child was sitting on his bed in front of his lap top, in his room in the special education center for gifted children run by Ivanux. Horia had the same passion as his elder brother, who was now light years away, doing things which Horia couldn’t understand, but knew were done for an important reason. But what was that reason, damn it?

*I am worried for you, brother.*, thought Horia, as he was staring at his monitor. And whenever he was worried or anxious for some reason, he resorted to one of the things which could distract his attention from the real world.

The mental effort of traveling through the dark forbidden labyrinth made entirely of information particles – 0 and 1 – was hard to bear even for a much more resilient adult. But for Horia, who was a genius child, this wasn’t harder than it was for, let’s say, Remix. Remix had taught Horia the ways about four years ago, when they had just left the orphanage. And from that point on, Horia discovered the pleasure of diving into places hidden from most of the people, where one can decipher, in total darkness, secrets which others didn’t even suspect and where every step you took on your way back was a challenge in terms of hiding your tracks.

In the beginning he had asked Remix for pieces of advice, which Remix was very eager to give, even though Remix was worried for Horia, every time the child proceeded to an other foray. After a short time, however, Horia started to learn by himself new secrets of traveling the forbidden tunnels. After all, most such travelers were self-taught.

An other inroad into the forbidden territory was just what Horia was doing at the moment. His worries were all gone now, since one can’t cope with the complexity of such an excursion with a troubled mind. He outstretched his virtual arms and his fingers touched the virtual walls. And he kept going forward.

At some point he couldn’t tell anymore how much time had passed since he had dived in. But, after what seemed to be virtual kilometers of uninteresting information, he suddenly stopped in awe. He needed to catch his virtual breath in order to keep on going, because, it seemed that what he started to decipher just now was other-worldly.

*OK, rewind!*, he thought, took a few steps back and re-read the last things which made him stop a few seconds – or minutes? Or hours? – before.

He didn’t know whether to be angry about what he was now deciphering, or just worried. He didn’t know whether to be mad at the ignorance of the people, or just feel sorry for them because they couldn’t have access to what he was decoding, and thus, had no way to find out about these things and revolt.

_… So, the best thing to do is take away the mentally gifted and educate them in the spirit we want to imprint on them. It is too late for the adults, so we will start with the children…_

_… In order to make them accept our future, we must delete the memory of the past from their pure minds. And we will start by removing the Earth Hour. Once they forget about the so called Earth Tragedy, they won’t see our actions as a threat any more, and thus will welcome them…_

_… So the best thing is to supervise our successors well after we are officially retired and they have taken over. Gentlemen, it is logical that we must prolong our life spans. And organ transplants are perfect for this..._

_… Maybe we can also determine the heads of the Galactic Police to accept lowering the funds for that authority. Fewer funds… more insecurity… maybe the people will come and beg us themselves to cut their rights and freedoms in exchange for the security they will be longing for…_

_… Have a great day, the future is bright!…_

In his room, Horia was now perched on a few pillows, on his bed, hugging an other pillow tight. He desperately longed for a cigarette now, but he was trying to quit before it would be too hard to quit. But his mind was still in the virtual tunnel. He always suspected something wasn’t right with the education centers and with all the galactic media campaigns from a few years ago, trying to convince people of the necessity of such centers. But he never paid attention to these facts, being too busy with school, and playing, and sometimes hacking… He had just accepted reality the way it was, without asking too many questions, because, after the forced departure from Remix, he had somehow became used to the fact that life is not always fair. But now… he had the certainty. He had the proof. And it wasn’t just the education centers, but all the other things, too.

He picked up a cigarette from the pack beside him on the bed, but tore it in half. After he finished with it, he braced himself, and continued walking. Unfortunately, he soon hit the much-expected-at-some-point wall, blocking the tunnel.

*Oh, darn it…Just when it was becoming interesting…*, Horia thought, not discouraged, but just slightly pissed off.

But just as he was leaning on a side wall of the tunnel, thinking of ways to make the wall blocking his advance slide away, his fingers touched a message:

“Congratulations, you’ve been hacked!

By the White Wolf.”

Horia almost choked in surprise.

*Remix, you’ve been here! This is more than just a coincidence! It is the will of the Universe!*, thought Horia, suddenly filled with joy. And then, he realized what Remix’s hidden purpose for deciding to run a galactivision broadcast was.

*Remix… Now I understand everything… darn…*, thought Horia, this time determined to make the wall in front of him slide away at all costs.

*Too bad this stupid wall is blocking the way to possibly even more dangerous secrets!*, and he leaned on a side wall again.

Horia didn’t know any more how much time passed since he had begun trying to make the wall slide to the side so he could move forward. He tried every trick from the stock of a hacker and was now feeling very tired. He didn’t think he could resist much longer. Guessing codes… pushing himself angrily in the wall… even trying to gently push the wall. Sometimes, if you tried to gently push the wall, it would slide to the side, but only if you nicked the certain velocity which the wall was programmed to respond to, by sliding itself to the side. And this usually required at least 5.000 trials. Horia gave up after 200, losing patience.

Feeling frustrated, he threw himself on the floor, gathered a handful of virtual sand in his fist, and threw it in the wall in front of him.

*Stupid wall!*, he almost cried.

But the second the virtual sand hit the wall, the wall started vibrating. Next thing Horia knew, the wall slid to the left, freeing the passage.

Horia couldn’t believe his eyes! He never thought a wall would be programmed – or was it an error in its design? – to slide to the side when one threw virtual sand taken from the floor at random in it. This was really something interesting! He was now feeling grateful for being angry and frustrated, otherwise he wouldn’t have made the wall make way for his advance. This was something he had to talk to Remix about. But not now! It wasn’t safe for a hacker to spend too much time in the same tunnel, and Horia didn’t even know how much time passed since he had begun his journey anyway.

He walked forward. And as his fingers touched the side walls, he found what he needed. A full list containing the names and addresses of the people involved in turning the New Galactic Order into reality. This was it!

After going through the names, he decided to quickly head back to reality. The way back was long, he would need a long time to cover his tracks so leaving the tunnel was the best thing to do now. He started heading back the way he had come, but not forgetting to leave a message, carved with a finger, on the side wall opposite to where Remix’s message was lying:

“Congratulations, you have been hacked again!

This time by Hush Now.”

Lying tired on his bed, after the inroad, Horia was staring at the window, wondering what to do. He wasn’t the type to feel self-pity and he wasn’t feeling it now. Yes, he was a victim. But so were thousands of others. The only right thing to do now, was to try to think of a solution. These people behind the New Galactic Order were strong and rich, no doubt. And they had also been anonymous, which increased their power so much more, but their anonymity vanished a few hours ago, thought Horia, smiling to himself.

Just as he was having these thoughts, someone knocked on the door of his room. *Oh, no…*, Horia thought disappointed, but nevertheless got down from the bed and opened the door.

Ivanux was standing in the doorway, with his usual innocent smile on his face, always making his interlocutor feel that Ivanux was hiding something, and thus, always making Horia feel uneasy in his presence.

“Hello, Horia.”, Ivanux said in a mild, friendly voice. “Is there something wrong?”

“No… I mean…What do you mean?”

Horia was starting to feel nervous, thinking that maybe he didn’t hide his tracks right and someone from the institute discovered his inquiry from moments ago. His heart started beating faster.

“You haven’t gotten out of your room for two days. You have to eat something. And it’s dinner time. Or are you not feeling well?”

*Two days! OMG! I never thought…I totally lost track of time!*, thought Horia, totally taken aback. But hearing Ivanux’s reply made him realize he was indeed starving.

“Oh… I was just doing homework. I had a lot of that and didn’t have time to come down. But I’ll be right down. Just a few minutes, ok?”

“Of course, you can’t come down dressed in your night gown, silly!”, said Ivanux in an affectionate way.

“Oh… Yeah, you’re right. So…I’ll be right down.”

*Please leave now…*, thought Horia, *I’m in no mood for small talk with you…*

But just as Ivanux was about to turn around and leave, the head of the center suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, and Horia.”

“Yeah?”, asked Horia, just as he was about to close the door.

“We must talk about something. Every once in a while, someone reprograms the robot. And I have a feeling you know who it is. It’s only in his nature to do so…”

Horia’s heart skipped a beat.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”

“Horia… If I am right and Remix is behind all this, please tell him to stop. The institute can’t afford to pay IT engineers every month for problems which shouldn’t even exist.”

Horia became pale all of a sudden.

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”, repeated the boy.

“Just come down when you finish whatever you’re doing, right?”, said Ivanux, rolling his eyes, with an exasperated, but indulgent expression on his face.

“Yes! Right! Bye.”, said Horia, and Ivanux left.

Horia closed the door behind Ivanux, feeling nervous and anxious. He picked up his cell phone and wanted to call Remix, but then changed his mind. He felt drained to the point he didn’t have the energy to speak to anyone at the moment, not even to Remix. His stomach growled, reminding him of how hungry he was.

He started getting dressed, however in no mood to get out of his room. If only they had room service, he thought. Horia left his room, but not before clicking a certain button on the screen of his lap top…

Just as he was heading downstairs, his cell phone beeped, after which a small metallic voice howled: “Blood Lord, you are awaited in the Galaxy of Warcraft! Your army needs you! For entering the Game now, press 2.”.

*Oh, damnit! I forgot I had a battle to take care of… Arghhh!*, thought Horia, and his mood suddenly lifted up, the metallic little voice reminding him again about the fun part of life. *I am coming, comrades! Aaah, just hold on a bit!*, the boy thought, and ran downstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It may seem weird that, even though the action takes place 1.000 years in the future, some future technologies are similar to present technologies. For example, in my story people use lap tops and cell phones, and one might be thinking, how come people still use these things, shouldn’t they have invented something way better?
> 
> What I have in mind is this: about 1.000 years ago (basically in our present), people were in a rush to perfect space travel and terraforming planets. Developing and improving these things took all the time and energy of humanity, since these were the only things to ensure survival, the Earth being almost unable to sustain life anymore. So, people didn’t have much time and energy to invent or perfect very well other technologies and devices and thus, some technologies in the story remained similar to what we use in the present. This explains the discrepancy between some sophisticated products, such as space ships and other rather usual things, like cell phones.
> 
> About Remix’s Mask, which is the appearance of an alien belonging to the race commonly known as the “little greys”: in ufology books it is said that most of the abductions are performed by the little greys. The abductees describe them as very short, thin, apparently genderless, with large black eyes, big heads and grey skin. The abductees claim under hypnosis that the little greys take skin and other organic samples from the abductees.
> 
> There are many materials about the little greys, some are really interesting. One of the first abductions performed by the little greys known to the public is that of Barney and Betty Hill in 1961.
> 
> I was fascinated by ufology and especially by the little greys for a long time. And when I was thinking of a Mask for Remix, who wanted to remain anonymous, the little greys seemed like a good idea.
> 
> ~Inspirations~  
> Blunticelle was not my name idea. It is actually the name of a biscuit my best friend named once, after she burnt it with a lighter : )) I am talking about the same person who came up with the names Arnakad, Pa-Chau and Badang. You deserve credit, gurl!
> 
> The next chapter will probably be posted in September. If not, then October, i can't tell exactly, it depends on how much time i have.


	7. Time of Disclosure

**_After 8 months_ **

It was late evening and Heralex was sitting in one of the supervision rooms of the Phylos 1 building. From these supervision rooms he was often monitoring the editions of the various broadcasts of Phylos 1. He was looking at a monitor which would soon come to life, as Remix would begin what would be the last edition of his broadcast, and the reason he had come to Phylos 1 about a year and a half ago.

At first, Heralex didn’t suspect anything about Remix. The head of Phylos 1 only thought that Remix was yet an other one who wanted to get rich fast. Of course, everyone knew that Phylos 1 wasn’t a good place to get rich, due to its precarious financial state. But Heralex didn’t question Remix’s choice from back then, especially given the fact that he had met a few naïve people in the past and thought that Remix was maybe another one.

But what surprised Heralex was Remix’s strong preoccupation for gaining a rating as high as possible in the shortest amount of time, in a galaxy where ratings stopped being the main purpose of galactivision channels long ago, the interest in gaining high ratings having been replaced by the will of broadcasting high quality content. It was as if something was pressing Remix, as if the young moderator was constantly in the middle of a race. This was something unusual.

The other thing which struck Heralex was seeing Remix’s talent at everything related to the software world, world which was light years away from Heralex. Remix accepted to program the Masks of a few other moderators who wished to remain anonymous, and found great pleasure in doing so. Heralex started wondering why such a talented IT wizard even wanted to work in the galactic media.

Heralex was recalling the moments when he had suspected that Remix had secret plans, while leaning on the back of a chair in the supervising room, and throwing tiny arrows at the darts target on the wall in front of him, target with the face of the Darth Ministrator printed on it.

Heralex had decided to tell Remix about his suspicions about six months ago, which caught Remix a bit by surprise.

After a successful edition, Heralex had found Remix at his desk, in front of a lap top, working on his newly-launched website about an alleged “New Galactic Order”.

“Remix, can I talk to you for a second?”, Heralex had asked back then.

“Sure thing.”, answered Remix, pushing the lap top away. Heralex caught a glimpse of the reflection of the monitor in the metallic wall behind Remix, and couldn’t help but ask:

“Working on the website again, aren’t you? It’s late, you should get home…”

“I have to finish something. I’m trying to make a map of the outdoor cameras supervising people. We never had these things until about a year ago.”

“I noticed them, too.”, said Heralex. “And they are making me a bit nervous, I must admit.”

“Yeah, me too.”, replied Remix, in an attempt to ignore the awkward atmosphere, due to the fact that Heralex seemed to have something on his mind which was bothering him. After a few seconds, Heralex broke the silence:

“So…you think this New Galactic Order thing is true? You must be, otherwise you wouldn’t have made the website.”

Remix was taken aback by Heralex’s question. The programmer had really hoped that no one in Phylos 1 would suspect his secret intentions. But Heralex was intelligent and obviously a deep thinker, so Remix had expected some questions of this kind on Heralex’s side.

“Yeah… I mean, why the cameras? Why would they supervise us if there’s nothing wrong? And it seems not to be anything wrong. But then why the surveillance? Weird things are happening.”, answered Remix a bit nervous.

“Remix, I want to thank you for the high quality content of your broadcast. I actually wanted to talk to you about something. And I don’t want it to sound as if I’m not grateful. I mean, you helped us pay a bit of our debt, which is very good for Phylos 1… Of course, we _still_ have a huge debt… But anyway, I wanted to thank you.”

“Hey, it’s my job, it’s what I’m paid to do…”, and added after a moment of pause, “more or less.”

“Oh, I wish it could be more. But you know our situation…”, said Heralex a bit uneasy.

“I know, don’t worry.”, Remix reassured him.

“So… I’ll just say it straight. Because I like to understand my employees. Am I wrong in presuming that you, perhaps, have an other purpose, besides earning money and enjoying a nice job in the galactic media?”

Remix was taken by surprise by Heralex’s question, but tried not to show it.

“No… I mean, of course not. Why would you believe that?”

“Remix… I wasn’t born yesterday. I have met a lot of people in my life, due to the job I have. Why are you in such a rush to gain high ratings? Your behavior is very unusual. You know that ratings stopped being the most important thing in galactivision hundreds of years ago. It seems to me that you are always in a rush, always after something.”

“Even if you met loads of people, you can still be wrong about some. I’m just saying.”, answered Remix, obviously agitated and wishing this conversation would be over soon.

But the conversation went on like that for about half an hour, Heralex recalled from the supervising room, throwing yet an other arrow in the darts target displaying the Ministrator’s face.

After half an hour of contradicting each other, they were both bored and tired and none of them wanted to ruin their good relationship. Remix was the first one to give in, deciding on the spot, that he would not reveal everything anyway, at least not how he got the information… And even if Heralex suspected anything, Remix had some knowledge about some financial tricks carried out by Heralex in order to decrease some of his debt, tricks just on the line of lawfulness… So the programmer decided he had nothing to fear.

“Ok.”, said Remix, leaning on the back of his chair. “I know some things. And I want to make them public. Disclose everything.”

“We’re cool then”, Heralex smiled. “I like it when I know what is worrying my employees. I think you noticed I like to have an open relationship with everyone.”

“I’ve noticed, and I am really grateful, but…”

“I know what you want to say. You couldn’t have simply come and asked me to hire you because you need to reveal hidden secrets. But on a second thought… who knows.. maybe I would have accepted. So… are these things grave?”, Heralex asked, a bit more serious than moments before.

“Actually… they are.”, Remix answered plainly. Surprisingly, Remix felt much better now, when he told Heralex the truth, or at least a part of the truth. He was suddenly freed of a lot of tension he had been keeping inside of him. He didn’t care anymore where the conversation would head from this point on. And he kept repeating to himself in his mind that no one could ever prove how he had gotten his hands on the information he owned.

“Ok…”, answered Heralex thoughtfully. “I’m not even going to ask how you know what you know…”

*Good, cuz I’m not gonna tell*, the hacker thought to himself, and Heralex continued:

“But could you please tell me some of the things you want to disclose? It’s my galactivision channel, you know, and I think I have the right to know.”

Remix instantly felt relieved that Heralex didn’t bring up the theme of how he had found things out and was willing to reveal a part of what he knew. So he told Heralex a great deal of the plan of the New Galactic Order. After he finished, Heralex was visibly disturbed and for a moment didn’t know what to say.

“Oh… Gods of the Galaxy…”, he managed, turning pale all of a sudden. “Well then…If this is true, I fully support you.”

“Don’t worry, Heralex.”, Remix smiled in a reassuring way. “Trust me, as someone who has been into the esoteric arts for years, I know that the Universe functions according to some unwritten rules. And those rules aren’t of destruction. They are of creation.”, and then he added on a determined tone, “I am positive about this.”

“I wish I could believe you...I really wish I could. But if the rules of the Universe are of creation, then why was the Earth destroyed 1.000 years ago?! It was such a beautiful place…Such a beautiful place… I learned about it at school, during the Earth Hour, like everyone else, but I heard they removed the Earth Hour from the curriculum… too bad… And it was such a beautiful place… Especially that place around what was called the Mediterranean Sea? You know that place, right? I am in love with it”, and he sighed, with a dreamy look in his eyes.

“I know what you mean, I think we were all obsessed with some places during school. We were collecting cards with landscapes, remember?! And I used to have the whole collection at some point!”

“You don’t say!”

“For real! I had a thing for a place called Transylvania. Don’t ask.”, said Remix, dwelling in childhood memories all of a sudden. “And about the laws of the Universe… Here is how I see things… If the Earth was destroyed, it was only so that we could invent space travel and conquer new horizons! So, on the long term, the history of humankind is one of creation, and not of destruction. Just like you sometimes need a kick in the back to take a step forward, I guess.”

On that evening, in that small room, a strong fellowship began. It is what often happens when more people share the same secret and are united by the same worries or ideals. Before leaving, Heralex asked Remix one more thing:

“Will you let me know when the disclosure moment comes? It’s my galactivision channel, after all.”

“I’ll let you know, of course.”, Remix answered.

And now, Heralex was waiting for the moment of truth in his supervision room. Remix had told him about it two weeks before. Heralex knew that this would be Remix’s last edition. It was what Remix had come here for. The two of them were getting along so well and Remix helped Phylos 1 pay some of the debts, due to the significant ratings of his broadcast. Heralex wished Remix wouldn’t leave.

*But everything which comes, must go at some point, isn’t it so? You can’t keep a butterfly in a jar, for it will wither…*, Heralex thought, while throwing yet an other arrow in the Ministrator’s face.

“Yes! Straight into the eye!”

***

It had been done. The disclosure was finalized. There was nothing else left to be said. Remix was in his small office, tense, yet excited, but infused with the positive kind of excitement that gives one wings. After the disclosure, his hands were trembling, so the first thing he did when he entered his office was smoke a cigarette, while leaning on the metallic wall behind his desk and thinking about the possible consequences of his actions.

How he wished there would be consequences! He was hoping with all his heart that the disclosure wouldn’t be in vain. He didn’t want the galaxy to suffer the same tragedy as the Earth, 1.000 years ago. But, above all, he wanted the mentally gifted to be set free again.

After calming down a bit, he said goodbye to Heralex. They had made a great team, but their roads were too different, so they needed to part company.

When he left the Phylos 1 building, it was night. The stars were twinkling brightly, like the certainty of a fulfilled promise. A pleasant cool wind was blowing, as if soothing the world. Before heading to the space port, he turned around to look at the Phylos 1 building for the last time. It hadn’t been so bad, actually. Nope, not half as bad as he had expected.

Remix then headed towards the space port. But after less than 5 minutes, the silhouette of a woman in the uniform of the Galactic Police appeared in front of him, as if materializing from thin air. Remix took one step back and then quickly recognized her:

“Mornin’, Ms. Herdevex, how lovely to see you, what are you doing here?”

Strangely, Elsa had an unusually friendly attitude and seemed to be in a very pleasant disposition.

“Hi, Remix. No need to be ironic, I came to help.”, she said cheerfully, and started walking along beside Remix. “Congratulations for the edition! It was very well done. I am sure it will have the effect you wish for.”

“Thanks…I hope so, too. We’ll see in the following days, I guess”, answered Remix, not looking at her, but staring somewhere at the horizon.

“You don’t look too happy”, Elsa noticed.

“It’s not that… I’m just thinking about stuff. Why did you come, anyway?”, Remix changed the subject.

“Yeah, I wanted to get there. Remember when you asked me to send some people to keep an eye on Horia?”. Hearing his younger brother’s name instantly got Remix alert. “Well, don’t worry, he’s safe. But, my superior has come to the conclusion that it’s best if we escorted you to Mechtonian, instead of letting you fly there alone. For safety reasons, you know.”

Remix stopped on the spot.

“Hey, this is really thoughtful of you, but I can take care of myself, I’m major.”, he said reluctantly.

“Remix, this is just a normal procedure when people are put in dangerous situations. After the disclosure you might turn into a target. The road to the space port is kind of empty, so it’s for the better if you are escorted.”, answered Elsa.

“But if the road is empty then there’s nothing to be afraid of, plus I only asked you to take care of Horia, it shouldn’t be anybody’s problem what happens to me.”

“Actually, since you brought Horia up, there are some things I need to tell you.”

Remix suddenly got anxious, and wasn’t even trying to hide it.

“What about him?”

“Remix, don’t worry. We’ll talk in the Galactic Police space ship. Please, just follow me to the ship.”

“But what about him?!”, Remix insisted, still not moving from the spot.

“Remix, let’s not talk about this in the middle of the road. And I promise there’s nothing to worry about.”

After a few seconds of thinking, Remix slowly moved from the spot he seemed to have been riveted to.

“Can we go now?”, asked Elsa hopefully.

“Yeah, fine.”, Remix answered and hesitantly followed her towards a small space ship of the Galactic Police, parked a bit further along the road.

But just as he was waiting for Elsa to open the gate, four other Police space ships landed, surrounding Elsa’s ship. Everything happened in a split second, and Remix had a bad feeling about it.

“Hey, aren’t you exaggerating with the security measures?”, Remix asked her warily.

“Remix, you sure are stupid for a hacker.”, Elsa said, with a sudden twist in her attitude, the friendly helpful look in her eyes from moments ago suddenly turning into a cold emotionless gaze.

“What do you mean, can you further explain this?”, and the moment he finished the question, he felt a force impossible to withstand, pulling his arms behind his back, as if forced by someone 100 times stronger than him. He then felt the gentle, but firm touch of the energetic hand cuffs wrapping around his wrists and lost most of the control over his arms.

“What the fuck?”, he asked, filled with anger and despair. He felt like a complete fool, having allowed himself to be lured by Elsa’s words from moments ago, saying that there was something about Horia which she needed to tell him.

*Stupid! Stupid! Idiot!*, Remix thought to himself hopelessly, leaning on the outside wall of Elsa’s space ship and hitting it with his head.

“No need to get dramatic, Remix.”, Elsa said, gently, but firmly, just like the energetic hand cuffs, but Remix didn’t seem to be listening to her. “You are under arrest. You are suspect of grave infringements of the law.”

“DO YOU HAVE ANY PROOF!?”, Remix yelled outraged. He wanted to run away, but with his arms immobilized to his back by an invisible force, it would have been impossible. The fact that they were surrounded by four Police ships only made the situation worse. He cursed himself for falling in Elsa’s trap, but he cursed her even more for using his weakness as a bait.

“You have the right to remain silent.”, and as she uttered the words, she picked the gun which had been hanging from her belt and pointed it straight towards Remix.

“I have the right to know the proof of your accusations, God dammit!”, and he hit the wall of the ship with his foot. “And you have the right to be a sentient being, but Nature obviously didn’t grant it to you! Too bad for the others!”

“Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law.”, she continued unmoved.

“I am a suspect of _what_? And what proof do you have?!” Remix was instantly overcome by the thought that he had done something wrong in one of his forbidden trips. *But it’s impossible! I took all measures!*, he thought to himself.

“You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you.”

“You’re damn right I can’t afford one!”, Remix said and spat on the wall of the ship.

“Do you understand these rights as they have been brought to your knowledge?”

“Do you understand that you are stupid?!”

“And you will have to clean _that_.”, Elsa said, and pointed her gun to the spitting on the wall, which was starting to slip downwards.

“With your tongue.”, grinned Remix. Elsa rolled her eyes and said:

“And to answer your question, the Law 205/2889, for determining the situations when a galactic citizen can be arrested, with the subsequent changes, states that if a person is suspect of three grave crimes, the Police may arrest and interrogate them, even if the Police lacks concrete proof. Based upon the interrogatory, the Police may then take other measures it sees fit.”, Elsa said, and commanded the space ship gate to slide open from a small wireless remote she was keeping in her pocket.

“This is stupid…”, Remix said puzzled.

“Don’t worry, Remix. If you haven’t done anything wrong there is nothing to be afraid of. Just a small interrogatory in our headquarters on Memblex and you will be heading home in no time. Now get in the space ship. Not before you clean the wall.”

Remix didn’t move from the spot, and asked instead:

“What are the three crimes?”

“I would have told you after we got inside, but if you’re so eager to find out: one – being in the entourage of a wanted person, in your case, the merchant Sadix; two – being in the possession of secret information, the ones you gave me when you vandalized the Police building…”

“… That’s not even a building, it lacks windows!”, Remix interrupted her abruptly.

“Three… Wait, what do you mean it lacks windows?!”, Elsa asked curiously.

“Windows 501? Seriously? You call that an operating system? Most of the galaxy has already switched to at least 800…”

“Remix, I can’t believe you make jokes in a situation like this!”, Elsa exclaimed in disbelief.

“It’s the only thing I can do, given the fact that my arms are tied and I am surrounded by Police ships. I can also spit.”

Else rolled her eyes, feeling that, for the 1.000th time since Remix had come to her to give her the transcript, she could punch him in the face any time. She breathed out slowly and said:

“Three – being in the possession of further secret information, and I am referring to the ones sent to us 8 months ago.”

A heavy silence fell on both of them. It felt as if even the humming of the four space ships surrounding them lowered in volume.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”, said Remix mistrustfully.

“Get into the ship, Remix!”

“Not until you clarify things. I have no idea what the other information you’re talking about is.”, said Remix, impatience growing inside of him.

“And clean that thing up before you get in.”

Remix took a step back, admiring his own spitting which had been artistically trickling downwards on the exterior wall for the last few minutes. And then he spat again, on the same spot he had spat the first time.

“That will clean it up.”, he grinned to Elsa proudly.

Elsa stared at him for a couple of seconds. She then pushed the tip of her gun in Remix’s chest, exactly where he had been shot by the Police the first time.

“Get in! Now!”, she barked.

“Yes, sure, no need to get agitated. Oh you’ve got a nice place, so cozy, I’ll make myself right at home here.”, he said in a cheerful tone. Having been accused of something he knew for sure he didn’t do was a relief. But he was still curious about crime no. 3, even if it hadn’t been done by him.

“Sit on the chair!”, she pointed her gun at the chair near the pilot’s place, in front of the piloting console.

“Hey, don’t talk to me like I’m your dog”, he said, but sat down anyway, as he felt tired and drained.

Elsa sat on the chair near him, in front of the piloting console. After switching a few commands, the screen became lively and was now filled with the astronomic map of their four hour journey to Memblex, the headquarters of the Galactic Police. The ship rose upwards instantly, flanked by the other four Police ships which would accompany Remix and Elsa to Memblex.

“That operating system could use some updates, you know”, Remix broke the silence after about half an hour, pointing his left foot at the screen, since his hands were tied behind his back.

“Shut up.”, Elsa muttered.

“What is the third crime I’m accused of?”, Remix asked matter-of-factly.

“As I said before, you’re really stupid for a hacker. Didn’t you know that sending yet an other set of secret information to the Police would turn you into a suspect for sure? Even if you sent them from a different address, or at least, so it seems. But we’ll clarify everything at the interrogatory.”

Remix could barely refrain himself from laughing.

“I don’t mean to ruin your zeal, but I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”, he said amused.

“Oh, c’mon, Remix, you know very well what I’m talking about”, said Elsa in a bored tone. “And to be honest I wonder why you didn’t reveal these things live a few hours ago, as well.”

“Because… uh… I have no idea what I could have revealed?”

“Remix, I’m talking about the email in which you sent us a list of the real names and addressed of the people behind the N.G.O.!”, she exclaimed outraged, and Remix’s puzzled look only made her more angry. “Eight months ago! Remember?”

“I can’t remember what I haven’t done, but anyway…”

For about an hour, no one said anything. Remix was dwelling in his own thoughts. He clearly didn’t find any real names and addresses, otherwise he would have surely revealed them live. The identities of the monsters behind the N.G.O. were probably safely hidden behind the wall Remix couldn’t get rid of. This could only mean that someone else managed to make the wall slide away and get the information. Congratulations to them, then!

And that stupid law allowing the Police to arrest people without proof, only for being suspects of three crimes… It was probably an old law no Police worker was applying anymore…except for Elsa…Remix wished so badly that the interrogatory would be over soon, so he could get back home. It was clear that he had nothing to worry about. Or at least he hoped so.

But Remix’s thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a shrill whizzing in his ears. His whole body tensed, as he instinctively wanted to cover his ears with his hands, which was impossible in the given circumstances. Elsa looked at him with a worried look.

“You hear it, too?”, she asked.

“Yeah”, Remix answered weakly.

She looked around the piloting room, although she knew there was nothing wrong with the equipment.

“What do you think it is?”, she asked.

“Strange beings from an other dimension. I think they are trying to communicate.” Remix badly wished his arms weren’t tied right now.

“Cut the crap, Remix, this is serious!”

She got up and took a few steps towards the center of the piloting room, only to remain there helplessly.

Remix also stood up and walked towards her.

“Hey, I was just thinking, can you untie…”

But he ceased speaking in the middle of the sentence, as darkness engulfed the whole piloting room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve decided to split chapter 7 in two, because otherwise it would have been too long.
> 
> Here’s a little headcanon I have in mind. One might be thinking, if humanity spread throughout the galaxy after the Earth Tragedy, do countries still exist, in one form or an other?  
> In my story, nations, with their cultures and languages still exist. And by nations, I mean nationalities/countries, not the anthropomorphic personifications (because in this story, as you have noticed until now, the APHs are normal humans).  
> But instead of a territory from one planet, a nation occupies a whole planet: the planet or planets where the refugees from each country flew, after the Earth Tragedy. Like for example, the Romanians settled on Hansol, the planet where Remix comes from. The Greeks settled on Eladia, the Americans on the Amereides planetary system, and so on.  
> Besides the planet(s) where each nation settled after the Earth Tragedy, there are also the planets inhabited in common by all nations, planets which don’t belong to a certain nation and are kind of owned by everyone. I’m thinking here of Arnakad, Memblex or the Mechtonian Asteroid.  
> I came up with this idea because I don’t like globalization that much and think it would be a pity if all the cultures were lost due to globalization. And I don’t like the idea of countries ceasing to exist just because people were forced to leave the Earth in a hurry and settle somewhere else as fast as they could.
> 
> On a different note: how do energetic hand cuffs work? Energetic hand cuffs can detect who the owner is looking at and then wrap themselves around that person’s wrists : )
> 
> Writing is great, it makes you think of all sorts of things.
> 
> Last chapter will probably reveal itself in September.


	8. Back to Normality

Remix and Elsa couldn’t make out a single thing in the darkness which had swallowed them. It was something strange about this darkness. It felt as if the blackness was entering their eyes and at the same time separating the ship from the outside world.

After a few seconds of fumbling about, they bumped into each other.

“Hey, watch it!”, yelled Elsa.

“As if there was something to watch!”, Remix yelled back, annoyed.

Their quarrel was interrupted by a thunderous voice, which seemed to be coming from everywhere:

“YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD ESCAPE, BUT WE GOT YOU…WHITE WOLF!”

Remix froze on the spot. It seemed that this was it. They knew who he was and they finally decided to eliminate him.

“Who… are you?”, he asked, trying to control the fear threatening to take over.

“WE ARE THE ONES WHO CAN’T BE STOPPED.”, said the voice, in a menacing, yet calm tone.

“Remix, what’s happening? And who is the White Wolf?”

“And what will you do now?!”, Remix asked the owner of the mysterious voice, completely ignoring Elsa. “Just kill me already, will you?!”, he challenged, feeling more in control of the situation. From this point on, nothing really mattered. It was all over.

*Come what may…*, Remix thought to himself. *The disclosure has been made, it’s up to someone else to defeat the New Galactic Order now…*

“WE WILL ELIMINATE YOU, OF COURSE. BUT NOT BEFORE WE…AHAHAH… TORTURE YOU A BIT…”

“Go ahead!”, answered Remix, with a touch of mockery in his voice. “Now everyone knows about you, so even if you eliminate me, there is no escape for you!”

“WE HAVE ISOLATED YOU IN A VIRTUAL REALITY, LITTLE HACKER… THINK OF IT AS A VIDEO GAME…A LABYRINTH OF WORMHOLES. EACH WORMHOLE LEADS TO AN OTHER PLACE IN THE VIRTUAL LABYRINTH, EXCEPT FOR ONE. ONLY A SINGLE WORMHOLE LEADS TO THE EXIT OF THE GAME… FIND THAT ONE, AND YOU’LL ESCAPE… SO THAT YOU DON’T SAY THAT WE LACK HONOUR AND AREN’T GIVING YOU A CHANCE…BUT, OF COURSE, THE CHANCES OF FINDING THE REAL WORMHOLE ARE ONE TO A TRILLION. “

“Remix… we’re screwed…”, whispered Elsa, and Remix noticed, for the very first time since he had first met Elsa, a tinge of fear in her voice.

“YOU’LL PRPBABLY DIE OF HUNGER TRYING TO GET OUT…”, the voice continued scornfully. “TOO BAD YOUR WOMAN WILL HAVE TO DIE ALONG WITH YOU…”

“What?!”, Remix jumped on the spot instinctively. “Hey, listen, she’s not my woman!”

“WE’LL SEE ABOUT THAT… AHAHAHA…HAHA! AFTER ALL, SHE’LL BE THE ONLY WOMAN YOU’LL EVER SEE FROM NOW ON!”

“Listen you…!”, Remix wanted to punch the owner of the voice in the face, but unfortunately, the owner was nowhere to be seen.

But the voice didn’t answer any more. It seemed to have gone away. The darkness which had been embracing the space ship for the last few minutes started to dissolve and the screen in front of the piloting console revealed the new reality – the virtual reality in which Elsa and Remix seemed to have been stuck.

The screen showed no trace of the four Police space ships which were supposed to accompany Elsa’s ship to Memblex. What it displayed instead was a network of wormholes. An endless labyrinth of wormholes was outstretching in all directions around the space ship. A virtual reality… meaning that each wormhole only led to an other location within the virtual labyrinth, but not to the concrete reality of the Milky Way. They were surrounded by an infinite spider web of green dimly glowing, slowly pulsating paths leading nowhere…

“This is bad.”, said Remix, like a person stating that water is wet or fire usually burns, or the sky is blue during daytime, at least on most of the planets.

“Ah, stop stating the obvious…”, Elsa said warily. “You see why it was necessary to escort you?”

“I thought it was only so you could take me to the stupid interrogatory. By the way, nice trick with Horia… using his name as a bait for me to follow you…I already know the answer, but there really wasn’t anything you wanted to tell me about him, was it?”

“Actually there _was_ something I wanted to tell you…”, and Elsa turned around to face Remix. “The boy is troubled, Remix. Try talking to him more.”

Remix closed his eyes, wishing this stupid dialogue ended, imagining he was somewhere far away, anywhere but here, with anyone, but this Police officer who seemed to try her best to make his life miserable.

“That is… really none of your business.”, he concluded.

“Fine… How are we going to get out of here?”

“From what I know, virtual realities are impossible to escape, unless… you find their weak spot. Because each of them has a weak spot”, Remix said, relieved that the subject of Horia was put aside. “And we already _know_ the weak spot, the guy with the weird voice said it… we have to find the wormhole leading outside. I guess it must be a bit different from the others… I really don’t know. We have to start searching.”

“Yeah… ok…”, Elsa said in a way weaker tone than Remix had ever heard from her side.

“Can you… ah… please untie me? We’re going to be stuck here for a while, I’ll need to go to the bathroom at some point.”, Remix asked her, with a hopeful look in his eyes.

“I guess I _could_ untie you…”, but then she added with a fierce look in her eyes, touching the gun hanging from her belt: “But don’t you try anything smart! It will only add to the number of accusations against you.”

“I know. I can’t afford paying an other fine, so… There’s nothing you should worry about.”

Without Elsa even touching him, he felt the force holding his arms behind his back dim, until nothing was left of it. He moved his arms in the air, as if someone discovering freedom for the first time and then analyzed his hands in the light coming from the light source in the ceiling.

“All the fingers are there, can you please cut this out?”

“Oh, God, freedom!”, he yelled, jumping around the piloting room and stopping in front of the piloting console. “Let’s get down to business.”

***

There was no way to tell the time within a virtual reality. But judging by their tiredness, the two occupants of the ship were thinking that almost a day had passed.

A whole day with no results. Just racing through the wormholes, only to exit one and end up in the middle of the same labyrinth. The good part was that they stopped arguing with each other. All their energy was focused on driving as fast as they could, through the virtual wormholes leading nowhere, so that they could cover large areas of the labyrinth in the shortest amount of time possible. Unfortunately for their spirits, which were beginning to lower, it seemed they had covered the same areas of the labyrinth more than once… But they couldn’t even be sure of this, since every part of the infinite labyrinth looked so similar to every other part…

Elsa was piloting and Remix was helping her, because she didn’t feel like letting the hacker pilot her own space ship… Who knew what he might do? The only times when Remix was in charge were when she had to go to the bathroom, or eat something.

At one point, she returned from a short break, only to find the look of what was displayed on the screen slightly changed… for the better. It also seemed that the ship computer was working faster.

“Remix… you did something to the computer.”, she said, not sure whether to be mad at him for changing things without her permission, or grateful for the improvements he had made.

“I made a few changes”, Remix said undisturbed, entering yet an other wormhole, only to be thrown somewhere else inside the virtual reality moments later. “It’s instinct, I can’t help it”, he continued, staring into the screen.

“Thanks…”, Elsa said, disliking the fact that she had to say it.

“Don’t mention it”, Remix said, smiling to her without any tinge of mockery for the first time since Elsa had met him. “I was born for this.”

“Yeah…it’s cool when you know what you’re born to do.”, Elsa said matter-of-factly.

After what seemed to have been yet an other day of failed attempts to escape, they were both beginning to feel slightly hopeless. Not only they weren’t arguing, but they were barely talking to each other. It was strange, but for the very first time since they met, they felt they had something in common.

Even if each of them was dwelling in their own thoughts, the common purpose was always there.

“Don’t you want to take a break and let me pilot?”, Remix asked Elsa.

“Yeah… Please do so”, Elsa answered tiredly and instantly got up from the chair in front of the piloting console and laid down on the floor, since there was no right furniture she could lie on. The ship was only designed for short trips. And the food supplies were almost over… She wanted to bring this up to Remix, but simply hadn’t found the occasion. Only one bag of high caloric fried potatoes, which could last one person for two days, was left. Of course, ever since she was stuck with Remix inside the ship she had to share the food supplies normally found in every space ship with him… She couldn’t let him starve…And the fuel supplies weren’t doing well either.

After an indefinite while, Remix broke the silence:

“Hey… how are the food supplies?”

“Actually I wanted to get there…”, Elsa answered, in no mood for any conversation.

“That doesn’t sound good.”, Remix said, eyes focused on the screen.

“It isn’t. We only have one bag of high caloric fried potatoes… It should last each of us for about a day. After that, we’re screwed.”

Remix became worried all of a sudden. He wanted to live. He wanted to be out there, in the real reality. He missed Horia, he was already missing the real world… his girlfriend…Vanko… The Howling Wolf…all the things he liked doing.

*This is not supposed to end like this God damnit!*, he thought to himself.*Why the stress of doing illegal things, risking my freedom?! Why, when I was feeling I was so close to setting Horia free again…Only to end like this?!* He was suddenly filled with anger and hit the piloting console with his fist.

“Hey, don’t hit my ship, ok?!”, Elsa said annoyed. “It’s not my fault we’re in this situation.”

“It’s not mine either, if this is what you want to insinuate.”, Remix said, anger filling his voice.

Uncomfortable silence filled the room. Remix got up to outstretch his limbs and just remembered he had one cigarette left in his bag. It was exactly what he needed. He headed straight to his bag, left somewhere on the floor, and after rummaging a bit inside it, he found the cigarette and lightened it. But he barely took one smoke, when he saw Elsa coming straight towards him, with a determined look on her face.

“No smoking in my ship!”, she exclaimed, and before Remix knew it, snatched the cigarette from his fingers, threw it on the floor and stepped on it, turning it into useless debris.

“Hey, why did you do that for?!”, Remix asked outraged.

“Can’t you read the sign?!”, and she pointed her gun towards a sign on the wall, where the words “No smoking allowed” could be read in bright yellow letters.

“I can’t believe that in a moment like this you still care about stupid rules!”, Remix yelled.

“They are not stupid, Remix, this is only what delinquents think! If it weren’t for these rules you call stupid, we would have no order in the Galaxy!”

“No shit! If it weren’t for useless authorities maybe we wouldn’t have the New Galactic Order either!”

“Don’t even for a second think that the Galactic Police isn’t doing what it should do, Remix!”, Elsa almost hissed, her eyes boring into his.

“Not for a second, but for a life time!”, said Remix, returning the piercing look.

They stood in the middle of the room menacingly staring at each other for what seemed to have been seconds. The tension was so intense one could cut the air with a knife. Then, Remix suddenly turned around to leave the room.

“Where are you going…?”, she asked mistrustfully.

“To the bathroom, the most pleasant place in this whole ship”, he answered, before disappearing.

Elsa helplessly remained for a few seconds in the middle of the room, but then she headed to the main console for a succession of yet an other failed attempts to escape . The stress of being secluded from the real world with barely any food supplies left and with the fuel slowly running out was affecting both of them. Elsa tried to keep calm, because in situations like this, it was the only right thing to do, although the hardest.

Enter…Exit…Failed

Enter…Exit…Failed

Enter…Exit…Failed

Enter…Exit…Failed

Enter…Exit…Failed

*But what in the galaxy is taking Remix so long? He went to the bathroom half an hour ago*, Elsa thought. *He’s not a woman, for crying out loud!*, and she got up from her chair to go and find out what Remix was doing in her bathroom. *Hopefully not graffiti*, she thought amused. But just as she was about to exit the piloting room, she was almost knocked down by a yelling Remix, running straight towards the piloting console.

“Hey, watch it, idiot!”, she yelled.

“I know the way out! I KNOW IT!”, and he feverishly started pushing buttons and switching commands. Elsa barely dared to answer him, since he was now acting almost manically, large eyes boring into the screen, hands moving almost too fast to get a glimpse of. His behavior was making her nervous.

“Remix, are you sure you know what you’re doing?”, she asked, her eyes watching the wormholes landscape displayed on the screen fastly changing, as Remix was now piloting the ship towards what he said to be the exit.

“Just… an hour or so… and we’re out of here!”, Remix answered in an agitated tone.

“Can I ask how you are so sure?”, she dared ask.

“Astral projection”, he answered plainly, not looking at her, but continuing to stare at the screen.

“You mean… leaving your body, stuff like that? That’s what you did in the bathroom for so long?”, Elsa asked in disbelief.

“Yes! That is exactly what I have been doing! And I could see everything so clearly!”, he talked in a haste. “No secret is hidden to the soul when it is out of the body! The barriers created by the physical body don’t exist anymore.”, he continued, seeming to have calmed downed a bit.

Elsa sat down near him, on the chair he usually sat on.

“Am I wrong in asking why in the galaxy you couldn’t have done this when we were first thrown into this place? Why did we have to fumble around here like idiots for two whole crappy days? Or maybe even more. I have no idea.”

After a moment of silence, Remix answered:

“It’s not that easy, especially when you’re under pressure. You can’t just lie down and boom, leave your body. You need a special state of mind for this. And I didn’t have that state of mind when we were first thrown into this place. And I don’t have it now. But I managed, ok? We’ll be out in no time.”, he answered without looking at her.

“Oh… I didn’t know it is so hard… I mean… I thought you just had to lie down, close your eyes, think of green fields, maybe smoke something… and boom, you’re out of the body.” Elsa shrugged felling helpless all of a sudden. “Hey, speaking of smoking… is this why you wanted to smoke…?”

“Yes! That was to help me enter the state… But I managed without smoking, so no need to feel sorry.”

“I’m sorry. But you could have told me, you know.”

The next hour passed in silence. And then, suddenly, a dim light appeared at the end of the wormhole they were speeding through. Elsa felt excited at the thought of finally getting out of here, but Remix’s expression remained unchanged. Then, in the middle of the light, the familiar landscape of the Milky Way appeared, the light now surrounding the round image of the galaxy like a frame around a painting.

And the round image of the galaxy became larger, until the ship passed through the rim light surrounding the all so familiar landscape of the real world.

And here they were, again in the real reality. Elsa commanded the ship computer to display on the screen what was now behind the ship. And the screen only displayed the familiar arrangement of stars making up the Milky Way. There was no trace of the exit from the virtual reality they had passed through a moment ago. The virtual reality was all gone.

Elsa let the ship hover in silence in the void amongst the stars for a moment. She leaned on the back of her chair, unexpectedly relaxed. Remix did the same, closing his eyes and outstretching his arms.

“Thanks for getting us out of there”, Elsa said.

“Don’t mention it…”, Remix answered. “Thanks for the food.”

“Don’t worry, it was only normal that I shared it with you. You don’t want to get to the interrogatory feeling anaemic, do you?”

“What?!”, Remix jumped off his seat and was now standing in the middle of the room.

Elsa pressed a button on the console in front of her and Remix instantly felt the touch of the energetic hand cuffs forcing his arms behind his back. Before he knew it, he lost control over his arms again, being unable to do almost anything.

“You, bitch!”, he hissed behind gritted teeth.

Elsa got up from her seat.

“Remix, I suggest you calm down. What has to be done will be done and the adventure in the virtual reality doesn’t change anything. It is just a short interrogatory and, as I said before, if you didn’t do anything, you have nothing to fear. We will be accompanied by other Police space ships shortly. In the meantime, the people behind the N.G.O. from the list you have sent us are being arrested. So, justice is made.”, she concluded.

“You know what…”, said Remix, calming down a bit, “I really have nothing to worry about, because I don’t know what list you’re talking about. Someone intelligent probably found stuff out, but was also stupid enough to send them to you… There are many people in the galaxy who actually think, you know… Unlike you, who are the few who don’t…”

***

It was early morning when four space ships landed in front of the entrance of the main building of the Galactic Police headquarters on Memblex. Their gates opened simultaneously, perfectly synchronized, and a young male with arms subtly tied at his back, followed by a Police Officer pointing a gun against his head emerged from the ship situated in the center of the formation. The two were instantly surrounded by the Police men who had accompanied them in the other space ships.

The Police men tried to ignore the small quarrel between Remix and Elsa, quarrel which seemed to have started back in the ship.

“And you’ll have to explain who the White Wolf is.”, Elsa claimed undisturbed, as the two got out of the ship.

“A species of canines living at high altitudes in the mountains of Hansol…”, Remix answered in a bored tone.

“You’ll soon have the opportunity to tell that at the interrogatory…”

And then, Elsa and Remix suddenly stopped, the Police men surrounding them doing the same, as the two saw who was waiting at the entrance of the building.

Horia was sitting on one of the steps in front of the entrance, dressed in a sweater which looked way to large on him, like most of the things he usually wore, with a small knapsack to his back. As he saw the passengers he had been waiting for for the last week stopping in front of the entrance, he got up, quickly covering the end of a finished cigarette with one foot and stared at them with a piercing and somewhat disturbing gaze.

“Horia”, Remix was the first to speak, “what are you doing here?”, he asked surprised.

“Yeah, like don’t you have school or something?”, asked one of the Police men.

“Let go of Remix.”, Horia said, in a much stronger and imposing tone anyone would expect from a kid his age and ignoring both questions he had just been addressed. “He didn’t do it. _I_ sent the real names and addresses of the ones behind the New Galactic Order to the Police.”

For a few seconds, heavy silence engulfed the whole crew gathered in front of the entrance. Elsa was the first to break it:

“Horia, this is serious. I understand your feelings, but you cannot simply pretend to have committed a crime just to spare your brother from suffering the consequences of his actions. Now if you please step aside, we have to interrogate Remix.”

But Horia didn’t move from the spot.

“I am not sparing anyone”, he said with the attitude of one in total control of things. “I did it. And I can prove it.”

Remix didn’t know how to react. It was obvious that someone had managed to find out the real names and addresses of the real criminals and sent them to the Police. Of course, he had no idea who it might have been, he was just relieved that it wasn’t him. And of course, he never doubted Horia’s mental capabilities. Horia could have clearly broken the virtual barrier separating Remix from the answers he had tried to find a year and a half ago. But this… this was crazy. Just how small were the odds?

“Horia… Just let me talk to them, ok?”, Remix said. “I didn’t do it and you know it and they will know it too, really soon. It will all be over in no time, I’ll be leaving this place as if nothing happened, which is what in fact happened, nothing. Then we’ll talk, just please leave this place.”

Horia clenched his fists and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened his eyes again, his gaze silenced everyone, as it was so intense that one could believe Horia was reading their minds.

“No”, the boy said in a determined tone. “Remix, it’s not right to pay for what you didn’t do…”

“…But since I didn’t do it I won’t have to pay!”

“And it is not right to let yourself interrogated by them! It is your time, after all! _I_ will be interrogated and I will prove that I did it, ok? It was late night and I was at the Phyride center. I was feeling lonely and bored. So I just wanted a spare time activity… I just started hacking, ok? And found this out… the plan to destroy the Galaxy and the people behind it… And I thought that the most reasonable thing to do was to send everything to the Police… It obviously doesn’t seem reasonable any more… since instead of arresting the real criminals, you are arresting the innocent… And I can prove that I did it. It only takes a few minutes.”

And with that, he was finished. Everyone was puzzled, as no one expected a kid with such an innocent look to have done this. But on the other hand, everyone knew what kind of children were living at the Phyride education center… the kind with an incredibly sharp mind. In the confusion that followed, and which could be read on everyone’s faces, Remix was the only one who clearly believed Horia did it. At that exact moment, all he wanted was to hug his little brother tight, congratulate him on his deed and ask him how the heck he did it. But that would have to wait. It was clear that Horia wouldn’t give up until he convinced the Police that he was the culprit. Asking him to leave this horrible place and go back home, wherever that was, was no use, so Remix stopped trying.

Elsa shook the confusion off her mind and got a grip on her voice.

“Well… this clearly changes the situation. Horia, if what you say is true, then you’ll have to prove it.”, she said, taking control of the conversation. “And since you are underage, your tutor will have to pay for your deed. And I am afraid it will cost Ivanux very much.”

“Actually…”, Horia said, his authoritative tone from moments ago fading into a more childish one, “I don’t think Ivanux will be my tutor for long. You and Remix have been missing for a week, so I don’t know if you know… But protests against the stupid education centers are taking place throughout the Galaxy and I don’t think that law will exist much longer…” And when he finished talking, he stared at Remix with eyes full of hope, and Remix returned the gaze with a smile.

“The law hasn’t been abrogated yet. But if it is abrogated soon, it means Remix will have to pay for your mindless deed, kid.”, Elsa said in a voice full of compassion. What she expected was an outraged, loud and violent protest on Remix’s side, knowing how he usually reacted every time he had to pay a sum of money. But his calm laughter surprised her, as well as his words…

“You know what? I’ll pay. From the money I earn after I sue the Galactic Police for having shot me deadly. I will get the last farthing out of you after the trial. And that will be a lot of money, you know…”

Elsa and the Police men witnessing this conversation turned pale, since they knew too well the precarious financial state of the Galactic Police during the last few years. Not to mention they had received clear orders as not to risk being sued and taking part in any trials which would end up badly for the Police…

“I could have sued you right after I had gotten out of hospital, but I didn’t do it. And you wanna know why? Because I am disgusted with you and because, unlike the stupid Police, I really have important stuff to do. But now I will do it. And the odds are high that I also win!”

Elsa didn’t know what to say. It was true that Remix had all the chances to win if he decided to sue the Police for that unfortunate accident. After the accident she had been very surprised herself for his lack of reaction. And if the Police had to pay large damage compensations for a mistake done by the crew Elsa was in charge of… she would be in trouble. But she made an attempt to take charge of the conversation anyway:

“You have important stuff to do, like what? Hacking?”

“Like living! The life you wanted to destroy by throwing me in jail for things I didn’t do!”

“If you didn’t do them then no one would have thrown you in jail…”

“Go to hell!”, Remix yelled, suddenly annoyed with everything, with the injustice, with having to waste time in this stupid place, with having his arms tied and guns pointed at him.

“300 galactrians for cursing in front of an underage person!”, Elsa said out of pure instinct, at which point one of her mates intervened:

“Er… Ms. Herdevex… Do people really get fined for this…?”

“Yes, they do!”, Elsa answered at wits’ end. “Unfortunately I am the only one applying this rule!”

But just when everyone thought he had nothing more to say, Horia intervened in an innocent tone:

“But there’s no need for this, I’ve actually heard worse things than this”, the boy said, followed by an awkward silence, broken again by Elsa:

“Remix… It seems we cannot take you to the interrogatory, since you are no longer suspect of three crimes. As for who will pay for the deed of your underage brother, we’ll see about that. But remember, Remix, we are watching you...”, Elsa concluded.

“…Isn’t that boring?”

“Suspect for the third crime and the Police has the right to interrogate you, even without concrete proof, if it sees fit. We are also keeping an eye on your computer.”

“Ahahaha! My computer… Right!”, Remix mocked her.

Totally ignoring Remix’s reply, she commanded the energetic hand cuffs to release him. In a split second he was free to move as he wished again. Happy that he was released and eager to talk to Horia about a thousand of things, he smiled and approached his little brother, who was still standing in front of the entrance. With Elsa’s crew now gone, they could finally talk. But the youth had a troubled look on his face, which worried Remix.

“It’s been a long day for both of us…”, Remix said. “I’m just glad it’s over, and you have nothing to worry about. You know they don’t do anything to minors.”

“Yeah… I’m not worrying about that.”, Horia smiled.

“Just tell me something…Why in the galaxy didn’t you send me the real names and addresses, so I could reveal them live?”, Remix asked full of curiosity.

“Because I was afraid the New Galactic Order would kill you if you revealed these things…”, Horia answered with a lost voice.

“Oh, so you _do_ care…”, but he realized the stupidity he had just uttered before even finishing the sentence. Unfortunately it was too late to repair anything, as Horia instantly burst into tears. At that exact moment all Remix wanted was to hit himself in the head with something, or bump his head into the wall of the Galactic Police building they were still standing in front of. He only managed to clumsily utter:

“I am sorry, ok? I shouldn’t have said that, I’m an idiot!”

“I wish you stopped doing this!”, Horia exclaimed almost hysterically through the tears. “Ever since I’ve been stuck on Phyride you are always insinuating that I don’t care about you anymore, or even worse”, the boy sobbed, “that I care more about Ivanux than about you! Remix, this is tiring, I wish you stopped doing this! It is tiring because it’s not true! It is all in your head!” Horia’s voice broke, as he let himself carelessly fall on one of the steps leading towards the entrance.

Remix felt like a complete fool. He wanted to cry so badly, the last thing he ever wanted to do was to hurt Horia and it was what he just did. He sat on the ground near Horia and said in a trembling voice, hardly managing to refrain his tears:

“I am sorry, I don’t realize I’m doing it until I have already done it, ok? But sometimes… I wish I never even existed! And you wanna know why? Because living with the memory of a failure every day is driving me crazy!” Before he knew it, his eyes filled with tears. He pressed his hands over his eyes in an attempt to keep his temper under control. Just when he felt he would splinter the glass door behind him with his fist, he felt Horia’s arms embracing him in a tight grip and heard the boy say:

“But it wasn’t a failure, Remix. It was an experiment.”

Horia’s eyes lightened up when Remix looked at his younger brother, and the tears were dry and gone. So Remix thought it was about time to get a hold of himself. He put an arm around Horia’s shoulders and managed to say:

“Ah… This is… the most beautiful thing I’ve been told in a long while…”

For the next moments, they just stood there on the step in front of the glass entrance of the building belonging to the Galactic Police, without saying a word, as neither of them needed to. But their precious moment was suddenly interrupted by a harsh voice belonging to a Police man who had just gotten out of the building and was now yelling at them:

“Hey, do you mind?! The entrance of the Police building is not a soap opera studio! So will you please take your family history somewhere else?”

Horia and Remix stood up to look at whoever was screaming at them.

“Just when we were starting to have rating…”, Remix said, and pointed to some windows from the upper floors, where some Police workers were staring downwards at them. But their audience quickly closed the windows and entered their offices the moment their superior looked upwards. Without paying any attention to the Police man who accosted them, Horia and Remix turned around and started walking away from the building with no particular destination in mind.

“So… can you come for a visit to The Howling Wolf, or do you have to be at the center?”, Remix asked.

“I’m not going back to the center. They can take me by force if they feel like it.”, answered Horia impassively.

“You know…”, Remix said thoughtfully, “I’ve been thinking… and we can try to escape again, if you want to. And no more stupid mistakes this time”, he added in a determined tone.

“I don’t think it will be necessary. After your disclosure, people are already protesting against the Richko guy and demanding to know who is behind him. It’s just a matter of days until they abrogate the law. And until then, I can pretend I’m ill or something and stay on The Howling Wolf.”, Horia answered with a smile on his face.

“This… is just great! But tell me something!”, and Remix ceased his pace and looked straight at Horia, “How in the galaxy did you break the dead end?!”

“Oh, that was way easier than you think!”

And he told Remix how he did it, which got Remix speechless.

“OMG… Why… didn’t I think of that… Arghh… I was so close… I mean… Ah, damnit!”

“Haha, yeah, it was easy!”, Horia said through laughter.

And they kept on walking towards the space port to catch the next space ship leading to Mechtonian, after which they would get inside The Howling Wolf and away.

**The End**

A cool fresh morning was embracing the small spaceport of the Mechtonian Asteroid. Remix would go in a short vacation with Horia, after which they would both return to Mechtonian. Vanko accompanied the two brothers to the spaceport and now, Vanko and Remix were waiting for Horia to return from the sweets shop near the spaceport, probably with hands full of sweets.

“I missed you, I can’t wait for you to return.”, said Vanko.

“I also missed everything”, answered Remix, “but now it’s over.”

“You have no idea how annoying the mate that the company assigned to me was…”, Vanko told Remix for the 1000 th time. “And there is this thing you probably wouldn’t want to find out, but since you’ll see it with your own eyes anyway, here goes… He painted the walls of our garage for The Howling Wolf in pale green…”

“What?!”, Remix asked, amused and at the same time outraged that the pure blackness of their garage walls had been replaced with a color he didn’t quite like. “Who is he anyway!? Do you have his address? I’ll kill him!”

“Haha, Remix calm down, you’ll paint them black when you get back! But what’s taking Horia so long?”

Vanko barely finished the question, when he saw Horia running back to them, arms full of packages of sweets.

“Talking behind my back, aren’t you?”, he asked the two who had been waiting for him for the last half an hour.

“Yeah, as usual!”, answered Remix.

“So… I’ll just leave you two, your space ship leaves in half an hour, you should get going. By the way, how long will you be gone?”, Vanko asked.

“Hmm… A week, probably two, maximum three.”, answered Remix.

After that, Remix and Horia headed straight to the entrance of the space port, laughing and making mostly silly jokes, which caused some of the people they passed by to stare. But it’s not like they cared, anyway.

After walking for about a hundred meters along the road leading to the space port, Remix stopped dramatically to stare wildly at a small space ship of the Galactic Police parked near the road. He didn’t know why, but he felt like doing something stupid all of a sudden. One could call it instinct. Without saying a word, he started rummaging in one of his bags, where he remembered he had left the special item a while ago.

And there it was. The small transparent refrigerating cube with the eyeball of a deceased person safely confined within, which Remix used as a pass to enter the education center on Phyride. After staring at it for a few seconds, he rose the cube in the air, ready to throw it into the Police space ship, hopefully producing a little damage. But just as he was about to throw, Horia’s voice made him cease his motion:

“Brother, stop! Let _me_ do it!”

Remix ceremonially handed Horia the refrigerating cube. The sound of a broken window filled the air and in a split second Remix and Horia were nowhere to be seen.

**The other end**

Sparklack, the maximum security prison, was a stone citadel built on a desolate asteroid at the western edge of the Milky Way. Its existence was made possible by the artificial atmosphere created to sustain the lives of the unfortunate prisoners. Dwelling in perpetual night, it was also constantly supervised from the tens of surveillance towers, each built on every smaller asteroid surrounding Sparklack like dust rings dancing around a planet.

In one small cold room, with no right furniture one could outstretch their frozen limbs on, a group of men were sitting in a circle on the floor.

“It’s all your fault, Richko!”, grumbled one of the men bitterly.

The man named Richko seemed only a shadow of what he used to be not long ago. Crouched on the floor, holding his own knees tight, with his blonde hair dirty and rumpled and one lens of his glasses missing, he looked harmless. He didn’t bother answering, but only stared in front of him, as if watching something invisible to the others.

“Oh, shut up, Rothbilled! It’s not like we didn’t make any mistakes. And as far as I remember, the responsibility of securing the transcripts of our meetings belonged to you.”, an other man said.

“Oh, Rocketfellow, you remain unchanged…”, said the man who had been the first to speak. “Always escaping responsibility… And who was the one in charge of creating the virtual reality which was supposed to hold the hacker hostage till death, huh?”

The man named Rocketfellow didn’t answer. Suddenly, everyone’s attention was caught by an other mate:

“Hey, guys, I just remember…”, and he rummaged into one of his pockets only to produce an empty lighter a few seconds later. He placed the lighter in the middle of the circle of poor devils. At first, no one understood what the owner of the useless lighter had in mind. But then, Richko’s eyes suddenly lightened and the former governor of the Amereides planetary system uttered:

“Killton, you’re a genius!”, and then added in a hopeless tone, “it seems it’s the only thing we can do from now on…”

Richko covered the lighter with his hand and with a swift move, made the item spin on the spot. After a few seconds of spinning, the lighter ceased its motion with what would be the useful end, had the object been filled with gas, pointing towards Rothbilled.

“So… what’s it gonna be? Truth or dare?”, asked Richko.

And they kept on playing for an indefinite time. Surrounded by empty walls, engulfed by thicker walls, supervised from each and every asteroid floating in thin air around Sparklack. And on each and every supervising tower the flag of the Milky Way reigned. A white background with the image of a green and blue planet imprinted in the middle, before being ruined by the greed of the corporations and the ignorance of the people.

It was the Earth. Their home. The place they all belonged to. The memory of the Earth shall live forever. No one is allowed to forget. No one is allowed to break the oath, taking humanity back to the Dark Ages.

**And an other end**

Ivanux had been walking aimlessly through the rooms and hallways of the education center designed for genius children. The law compelling the families of mentally overly gifted children to enroll their offsprings in specially created education centers had been abrogated after violent protests of the population on most of the planets, after Remix’s disclosure. So now, most of the center was empty. There were only a few orphans left, who had no place to go to, except for orphanages. And Ivanux took responsibility to further take care of them, since he had this job for a few years now and liked it quite a lot. He had also grown attached to these orphan youths and made a promise to himself to look after them in the future, even if this was no longer compulsory now.

But he had to find a much smaller building. He would take care of that.

As he was strolling through the building, he stopped in front of an open door, from where the strange metallic sounds of a small artificial voice could be heard:

“Weeeee oh! Weeeee oh!”

Ivanux looked in the room which was the source of the racket, to see two IT engineers making great efforts to hold a spherical robot from flying away.

“Still no progress?”, Ivanux asked tired.

“I’m afraid not, Sir.”, answered one of the two guys hopelessly. “We tried everything and we’re still thinking of solutions, but the circuits have been severely damaged.”

“Weeeee oh, weeeee oh! I’m a giraffe!”, chirped the robot.

“Well, keep on trying…”, said Ivanux and turned around to leave, thinking he would strangle Remix if he ever met him again.

“Weeeee oh, weeeee oh! Life is beautiful!”

**And an other**

It was night, on an isolated, idyllic and somewhat savage planet. In the back yard of a wooden house, in the tall grass, Remix and Horia were lying down, without a care in the galaxy. The stars were twinkling in a thousand hues and the small purple shaded moon kept them company, while the pleasant songs of crickets were enchanting the hearts of whoever wanted to listen.

Lying on his back, Remix was watching the stars. He couldn’t sleep, but didn’t feel the need to either. Horia however, was sleeping tight, his head resting on Remix’s outstretched arm.

Out of the blue, Remix felt his cell phone vibrating in one of his pockets. Technology was evolved in these times, however there were still problems with synchronizing the time zones of so many planets, which caused people calling and receiving phone calls at inconvenient hours.

Careful not to wake Horia, Remix slowly picked his cell phone out of his pocket and curiously looked at the screen.

*Ha, the Darth Ministrator, this had better be good!*, Remix thought to himself, with an inner smile. He answered the call in a whisper:

“Hello?”

“Good day, Mr. Remix. How are you?”, asked the Ministrator in a friendly tone.

“It’s 2 A.M. where I’m at…”, answered Remix in a low voice.

“Oh, I am so sorry to hear that!”, the Ministrator replied jovially, “But we work 24/7… or 24/8, or 25/8… it depends, to keep our clients happy! I am sorry to have disturbed you, we might be facing planetary time zones confusions. I called to make you a great offer. First of all, I would like to congratulate you and Vanko for not having any debts any more to the Galactistrate Services.”

“Thanks…”, said Remix, again in a whisper.

“I’m sorry, can you talk a little louder?”, asked the Ministrator.

“Can you listen a little better?”

“Oh… I see, ha ha! Anyway, I called to present you an interesting opportunity for you, as well as for Vanko and your younger brother, who, I heard, will be living with you. Since you are free of debts and there will be three of you, instead of two, the Galactistrate Services would like to offer you a bigger, more luxurious apartment, which offers the right facilities for three persons.”, the Ministrator concluded, and Remix was almost blinded by a bright smile he wasn’t even seeing.

“Thank you, but we are not interested.”, answered Remix, wondering if the small dot of light he just saw racing across the sky was a satellite or a U.F.O.

“But, wait, don’t you want to hear the good part?”, the Ministrator asked in a haste.

*So, until now, this was the _bad_ part??*, Remix thought, and then answered, still in a whisper:

“Bye.”, and hung up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clarify things: the cigarette Remix wanted to smoke was a normal cigarette. So that you don’t get any ideas! And I can’t imagine him trying anything else to be honest.
> 
> Thank you for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed it, because I surely enjoyed writing it!
> 
> This is the first time I write a fiction longer than 5 pages and I never knew it can be so relaxing. Every time I finished writing a part of a chapter, I felt relieved of negativity, this was like a cure, given the fact that I also wrote it during a period of time when I was stressed out. I’ve grown to like Hetalia very much, although I only got into it about a year ago. And I wanted to write something which combines my love of science fiction with my interest for Hetalia.
> 
> What I want to say to everyone fighting against the new world order, or just starting to suspect that the new world order exists: never give up! I know that at times you might feel alone, but feeling discouraged is exactly what they want us to do. If you are tired, just take a break, short or long, it doesn’t matter. But never give up.  
> One might be feeling powerless thinking how we can defeat a system which seems perfect. But there are so many things you can do.
> 
> I don’t know if or when I’ll ever write anything else. It depends on inspiration and free time, my inspiration level is currently 0.
> 
> Late edit:  
> TGRD is getting a short prequel in December : )


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